Kill Jill
by JoeltotheD
Summary: Chuck and Sarah's vacation is cut short by the arrival of certain brunette from Chuck's past. Chuck freaks, Sarah sharpens her knives, and Casey sits back and smirks. Ch7 up.
1. Kill Jill, Part I

**A/N**: _Guess what this story is about? Huh? Go on! Okay, first off, I should say that there will be no "Chill" (if there ever was such a phrase). This is a Chuck and Sarah story, through and through, with a little Jill on the side. Should also mention that this is set in the period between Phrase 3 (Sarah vs the World) and Leftovers, the Intersect-less arc._

_Story is un-beta'd. Any mistakes are my own. _

**Kill Jill **

**Kill Jill, Part I**

The early morning sunlight bouncing off the bedroom blinds gradually woke Chuck Bartowksi from his slumber. He could feel it gently tickling his face as the memories of the night before slowly began to return. And oh, what a night it had been. Although slumber, he mused as he pried his eyes open, was perhaps not the right word to describe it. After all, slumber did imply that there was actually some sort of rest or inactivity involved. A familiar sheepish grin began to return to his face. No, a slumber was definitely _not_ what he had experienced. Not at all.

Man, post-rescue mission sex was _awesome._

The blonde mess of hair strewn out across his chest seemed to agree. His stirring had triggered a gentle moan from his rescuer that caused his chest to vibrate ever so slightly. Continuing to grin and trying to not to move too much, he glanced down at his saviour, who had slipped back into silence. He was pretty sure she was still asleep; her front was nestled into him such that she wouldn't be disturbed by any bothersome sunlight.

It was best not to wake her.

Amidst the blonde hair, the fractured light coming in through the window was giving the illusion of a halo resting on her head. Well, more than one, but who was counting? The irony, however, was not lost on him.

Here he was, using his body as a shield to protect her from the land of the living, when it had been her,_ his _guardian angel, that had risked, life, limb, and impalement from teeth to cross the jungles of Thailand to save him. In her wake, she had left a rein of destruction not seen since the battle of Wolf 359 – Morgan's words not his, who was as ever, the romantic – although it was with a pang of guilt that he had heard this. If he hadn't been stupid enough to feel the need to prove that he was more than _just_ the Intersect back when – Wait, how long ago had it actually been? 12 hours? 24? 48? The jet-lag had made time seem kind of confusing... Not to mention the other thing that had caused him to lose track of time.

Man, post-rescue mission sex was awesome.

His grin got even wider as he corrected himself.

Post-rescue mission sex _with his soon-to-be-fiancée _was awesome.

He was going to give Sarah Walker _the _perfect proposal. She deserved as much, being somewhat close to perfect herself. Actually, no, scratch that. She was perfect. Seriously. She had brought him back from the near abyss in Thailand, saying that she wanted to marry him. _Him._ Intersect or not. She, Sarah Walker, wanted to marry him.

But still, it was probably best not to wake her.

Even after a night, ahem, such as the one they had just experienced, she wasn't really a morning person. Several innocent alarm clocks had paid the price (a la death by throwing knife) for not knowing that. And, seeing how Chuck had already decided that he was going to make his future fiancée the perfect breakfast, with grapefruit and everything, that was going to be a problem. A big problem. Seeing as she was half a top of him, with one arm tightly wrapped round his chest and a leg interwoven between his, there really weren't many different ways he could move...

Maybe Morgan could make breakfast for them. Morgan was, after all, a vastly more experienced chef than would ever be – excluding when it came to matters of chicken pepperoni, of course. But no, this was something that he wanted to do, something that he wanted to do for Sarah. It was something that the perfect fiancé would do and – Actually come to think of it, where was Morgan? Usually, when he and Sarah were... there would hear gentle tapping on the walls and a reminder that some people in the house were trying to sleep. But since he'd gotten back from Thailand: nothing. He hadn't exactly left his bedroom much, either - he could always look for his buddy when he was seeing to breakfast. That is, if he ever got up...

Pushing thoughts of Morgan aside, he gently started to unravel himself from Sarah. If he could just lift her a arm a little bit more -

"Ouch!"

"No," Sarah's muffled voice said defiantly from his chest, her grip around him tightening.

"Sarah, you bit me!"

"But you were trying to leave!" she responded playfully, making sure to drag out the final word for as long as possible. She pushed her head up so that she could look at him, her cerulean eyes wide and possessing a childlike innocence. That look on her face had the power to make him do anything.

Recognising defeat, Chuck gave a small smile. "I was just trying to make you some breakfast," he mumbled, feeling strangely guilty.

"Breakfast? For me?" she said, her already impossibly wide eyes growing even wider. "That's so sweet! I'm sorry I bit you, Chuck – I guess I'll just have to make it better."

"That's okay. It really didn't hurt that …."

But his words were lost as Sarah started peppering kisses all along the spot on his chest where she'd bit him, the feel of her soft lips making it hard to think.

"Is that all better now?" she asked, looking up.

"Hmm, much," Chuck said, stretching back and raising an eyebrow. "But now that you mention it, there are several other places that could use your tender love and attention..."

"I'm sure that you'd like that very much, Mr Bartowski," she said, pulling herself higher and letting her mouth gently brushed against his for a second. "But weren't you supposed to be making me breakfast?"

He kissed her back. "Well, Morgan is the better chef..."

Sarah pursed her lips together as she shook her head. "Yeah, that's not gonna be an option," she said definitively before once again burying her head to his chest.

"Wait, wait, wait," Chuck said, desperately trying to concentrate. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She stopped kissing him and looked up. "Morgan and I, we came to an understanding."

"An understanding?"

"Yup." she nodded. "After everything that happened in Thailand, Morgan agreed to let us have the apartment for a couple of days."

_A couple of days? _Was that how long he and Sarah had been...Wow.

"He's at his mother's," she added.

Chuck frowned and gave her a crooked smile. "That was very, erm, considerate of him. How did you get him to agree to that? You didn't threaten to torch the Wii again, did you?"

Sarah bit her lip.

"Oh no," Chuck said as the realisation dawned. "You didn't play the -"

"The condom card?" she finished, giving a singular nod. "In all its glory."

"I thought we'd forgiven him for that?" Chuck asked with a sigh. "Even after all the Nerd Herd shifts he got me out of right after Paris?"

"Nope," she said shaking her head, while taking a moment to brush back a single strand of his hair that fallen loose over his forehead. "You may have forgiven him. Me? Not so much. It's gonna take a little more. But now..." She paused to consider it, tilting her head slightly. "...Now maybe we're even. Maybe."

With a shrug of his shoulders, Chuck wrapped both his arms around her and flipped her over so that he was hovering above her, eliciting a small giggle from her. "So you're not mad at me, then?"

Chuck smirked. "Well, Morgan has been saying that Big Mike has been wanting to spend some father/son time with him."

She grinned back as he leant in to kiss her. Whatever other words he'd been planning on saying quickly evaporated as his mouth connected with hers. Even in the morning she still tasted sweet, like strawberries.

Breakfast would probably have to take a back seat.

He ran a hand through her hair and pulled back from her lips. He started planting kisses down the side of her soft neck, right towards the sensitive spot where neck met shoulder, causing her to start purring softly...

Then Chuck's iPhone rang.

"NOOO!"

Sarah's cry wasn't as loud as it could have been, all things considered. In all their experiences together, the phone ringing was hardly the worst thing in the world. It wasn't Bartow.

Chuck reluctantly pulled his head back from Sarah's neck, triggering another groan."Just leave it..."

Chuck wished he could, but after seeing the frown and crow's feet on the caller ID he decided against it. "Sarah...It's Beckman. She said she wouldn't call unless it was important..."

He pushed himself back from a top of Sarah and reached over to grab the his phone. Before he could answer it, Sarah grabbed his hand. "Chuck...please..."

Sarah's eyes were wide in a pleading expression. They both knew that this would probably be the end of their vacation, so to speak. They'd have to get back to work and society. They'd actually have to leave the bedroom. "Sarah, I don't wanna answer it either – believe me – but we still owe Beckman after Thailand..."

"Fine," she conceded, a scowl growing on her face.

"Yes, General," he answered.

"Chuck," said Beckman's voice. "Is Agent Walker with you?"

"She's right here, General. Hang on, I'm putting you on speaker phone."

"General," Sarah acknowledged, the professionalism barely there.

"Agents, we have a situation," Beckman said stiffly.

"Don't we always..." Sarah grumbled.

Beckman ignored her. "Our sources have alerted us that a former Fulcrum agent may soon be arriving in the Los Angeles area – possibly here already. Intelligence is still sketchy, but our analysts believe that _this_ agent may pose a threat to you, Agent Bartowski and -"

"What do you mean threat, General?" Sarah interrupted. Beckman had her full attention now.

"Ahem, Agent Walker, I was saying," Beckman coughed, not taking too kindly to Sarah cutting her off. "The agent in question has a, erm, _personal_ connection to Agent Bartowski and we believe that she may seek him out."

_She?_

_No way...It couldn't be..._

Chuck's heart was suddenly in his throat as he started to put the dots together. There was only one former Fulcrum who he had...

He glanced over to Sarah, who's breathing had noticeably tightened. Her nose was wrinkled slightly, which on any other day he would have found adorable – and a little sexy – but right now her expression was slightly scary.

"She?" Sarah seethed into the phone.

_Oh crap._

She knew.

"Yes, Agent Walker, she," Beckman said stiffly. "The agent in question is Jill Roberts."

"Oh you have got to be fuc-"

Chuck quickly cut off his girlfriend. "Jill? Really, General? I mean, it's been two years. Why would she come back now? With Volfkoff and my mom, there's hardly a short supply of bad guys around... Besides, why would she pose a threat to me?"

Sarah was suddenly glaring at him. Her blue eyes said everything.

Oh shit. She thought he was defending Jill. Again. Shit.

Fortunately, Beckman broke the silence. "Since her parents moved to Helsinki, Agent Bartowski, you are Jill Roberts' only connection to Los Angeles. As for the threat to you... Jill Roberts is a former Fulcrum agent, who has attempted to kill both Colonel Casey _and _Agent Walker in the past. I'm highlighting the particular threat to you because of the current status of the Intersect. Without it, you are the most vulnerable."

"What are our orders, General?" Sarah asked, her eyes still fixated on him.

"Report to Castle ASAP, they'll be a full briefing there. I'll make Colonel Casey aware of the situation."

Chuck clicked the phone off and put it down. He turned to face Sarah and saw that the previous anger was gone, only to be replaced. Replaced by nothing. Blankness. She had her agent face on.

"Sarah," he begun, sighing. "I wasn't..."

Sarah quickly shook her head. "Not now, Charles. You heard Beckman. Castle. ASAP."

Before he could respond, Sarah had already jumped out of her bed and pulled a robe on.

Just as she was at the door, she turned back. Her agent face was still on, but her eyes had softened.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna let her hurt you, Chuck."

Then she was gone.

She needed some space.

Chuck threw himself back on the bed in defeat.

Jill was back. Again.

He hadn't _meant _to sound like he was defending Jill. Hell, he hadn't been defending her...

But now Sarah was upset. And she had every right to be. As Beckman had rightly said, the last time Jill was in town, she had tried to killed Sarah...

Chuck shuddered about the thought.

He leapt off the bed and headed after Sarah.

He really hated Jill Roberts right now.

# # #

_Little short, I know. But meh, not sure whether to continue this. More will be revealed later, particularly who will want to "Kill Jill". Three guesses who that's gonna be, huh?_

_If you liked it, please leave a review. I love to read them. J._


	2. Kill Jill, Part II

**A/N:** _So, um... just wondering, did _anyone_ read the last chapter at all? Anyone? Just kidding. Wow, thanks for the amazing response, really. Can't believe so many of you reviewed it/added it to your alerts. Thanks so much! Because of said response, I powered through writing this second chapter. Unfortunately, on Tuesday I'm going away for 10 days, to a land without the internet! So I wanted to get this second chapter out to guys before I left. Didn't want to leave you hanging. You can thank my twitter friend _**_DarthWalker77_**_, for forcing me to write it before I left. So this one is for you, Darth!_

_Chapter 2 is a little different to first chapter – little less fluff, little more jealous Sarah. Still, I've tried to keep it somewhat light hearted. Hope you enjoy it. _

**Kill Jill, Part II**

As they moved down the stairs towards the main Castle briefing area, Sarah could hear Chuck's tentative breathing and muted footsteps from behind her.

_He was trying to give her space._

He thought she was still pissed at him, and this was his way of giving her breathing room. It was Chuck just being Chuck. Truth be told, she wished he wasn't hovering behind her; she wanted him next to her, at her side holding her hand, telling her everything was going to fine, that the resurgence of the J-word wasn't to bring anything between them. Like last time. Not that she didn't trust him; she trusted Chuck completely, more than she'd ever trusted anyone else, including her father. More importantly, she loved him. And he loved her. And right now, even though she knew was just being stupid and irrational, she just wanted to hear him say that. But she'd already blown that chance...

Seconds after she'd left the bedroom, Chuck had tried desperately to apologise to her. She'd listened in silence from behind the bathroom door as he insisted that he hadn't been trying to defend Jill, that he hadn't forgotten what Jill had tried to do to her, that the last two days had been far too special to throw away over Jill Roberts... He'd finally given up when he heard her turn the shower on. The ride over to Castle had been awkward to say the least. Chuck had come to the conclusion that she wanted space, and the only thing to break the silence had been the radio. That just infuriated her even more – it wasn't even him she was annoyed at! It was this whole stupid situation.

This was supposed to be their time! Theirs!

After everything they'd been through in the last few months... With everything that had happened with Chuck's family, they deserved this time together. But even with all the crap they had been through recently, at least they'd gone through it together. Then there had been Thailand.

She'd nearly him lost him in Thailand. She'd near lost _Chuck._ It had taken those two weeks without him to realise just how much she loved him, what she was without him. And she _hated_ that. A shell of a person, hollow, lost. Casey had been right; that's who she was without Chuck. Then when they'd finally found him... to see him like that, on that chair, slowly fading before her eyes, watching him slip away...She could feel herself fading, too. But then he'd opened his eyes back to her, responding to her to touch. To her words. She had him back and never wanted to let go again. She had her Chuck.

The last two days had been a blur – some of their best together, well, except maybe that one time in Paris... But this had been different, not a moment built on three years of unexpressed love, restraint, and fucking asset handler relationship rules. They'd been apart. And it had very much been nearly made permanent. But she'd saved him, and he'd saved her in a way, too. They were both back in Burbank, home. And now it was just them. The two of them, together, alone for _two_ whole days. No missions, no Beckman, and no Morgan. Just Chuck and Sarah. What's more, she knew what Chuck was planning on doing, on asking. She could sense it. And that only made everything all the more tender between them. She could also sense, however, that he was nervous – although, if the last two days had given him anything, she'd have thought it would be _confidence. _But that was just who he was. And it only made her love him even more.

She couldn't wait to say yes.

Then Beckman had called, ruining what was supposed to be a week long vacation and, if the last two days were going to be the standard, a new record for them. Chuck was right though, they did still owe her from Thailand, and she could appreciate that, even if it did mean an end to their, erm,_ vacation_. That was the only reason that Chuck wasn't on his fourth iPhone by now.

Then Jill happened.

Jill Roberts.

The woman who'd broke Chuck's heart, twice. The woman who had betrayed him for Fulcrum. The woman who tried to kill both her and Casey. The woman who had taken_ –_ no, that wasn't strong enough. The woman who had _stolen _Chuck from her. The woman who had led them to Barstow...

Chuck had spend five years working in a _freaking _BuyMore because of that woman!

Sarah had never really believed that a person could be evil... Even after everything that she'd witnessed in her life, she still believed that to call someone evil was just a naiveté. But Jill was just... Chuck probably would have used the word nemesis, just as Morgan had described Bryce as Chuck's nemesis. Well, maybe that wasn't entirely correct. Bryce had turned out to have Chuck's best interest at heart, even if he had been a bit of a douche in the process. No, Jill wasn't her nemesis. Nemesis was an understatement. Jill was her Shaw.

And now she was back.

Things were fucked up already.

And if that women – the bitch – tried to take Chuck from her again, well, she had a couple of new throwing knives that she'd been meaning to try out...

She reached the bottom of the stairs to find Casey already seated in the briefing area. He had pushed himself to one corner of the long table and looked thoroughly sullen, which for a moment caused Sarah to smirk. At least someone else was having as much of a shitty morning as she was. Then she remembered the purpose of the briefing. Giving Casey a curt nod, which he promptly returned – adding a grunt in the process – she took the centre seat in front of blank screen. Neither of them spoke as they waited for Chuck to catch up to her. Nothing needed to be said. Jill was back.

A couple of seconds later, she felt Chuck step up behind her. She didn't turn around. She couldn't. What would she say? Sorry would probably be a start...

She never got the chance. Silently, Chuck leant over her left shoulder, pressing his mouth to her ear. "I love you," he whispered, before kissing the side of her head tenderly. He pulled back and took the seat to her left, eyes forward towards the blank screen.

That did it. She'd sulked for long enough.

Sarah edged slightly closer to her left, subtly closing the distance between them. Her mouth was open, the apology was almost on her lips when...

"Casey?" Chuck asked suddenly, looking around her. "What the hell happened to your hands?"

She turned to face her other partner. It was only now that she noticed Casey had a stream of bandages wrapped around both his hands. He reddened, almost imperceptibly, at Chuck's question.

"It seems, Agent Bartowski," Beckman's voice said from across the table, her stern face having appeared on the screen, "that Agent Walker wasn't the one to have an adverse reaction to your ex-girlfriend's name." She turned to face Casey and pursed her lips together. "Colonel Casey, need I remind you again of the dangers of carrying scolding coffee around single-handedly?"

Did she really just refer to Jill as Chuck's ex? _Really!_

Casey's jaw clenched. "No, General. You don't."

"Good," Beckman said, nodding. "Also, next time, try and refrain from using such language in front of your superior officer. It's just not nice to say those kind of things about people – even _if _the person in question is Jill Roberts."

Casey grunted again, this time more forced. "Understood, General."

Chuck looked round to Casey again, a concerned expression on his face. "Sure you're okay, buddy?"

To this, however, Casey only grinned, looking considerably more pleased. "Don't worry Bartowski, trigger finger's still working fine... So if we see Roberts..." He then made a crude gesture of a gun firing with his hand.

Sarah felt the corners of her mouth begin to rise, forming the faintest trace of a smirk. Looking over to her left, she saw that Chuck had paled.

"Ahem, gentlemen?" Everyone turned back to Beckman, who's voice had grown irritated. "Now that I have your attention again perhaps we can begin the briefing?" Everyone nodded their affirmation. "Good, everyone here is familiar with the agent in question -"

"Some more than others," Casey murmured.

Sarah glared at him.

"Jill Roberts, former Fulcrum agent, is believed to soon be arriving in the Los Angeles area. She may already be here. The purpose of her arrival is unknown. Therefore, we are going to assume the worst – that her motive is out of revenge."

Or theft, Sarah thought as she saw Chuck tense next to her.

"She has been on the run for the past two years and without the resources of Fulcrum to help her, has not fared that well."

Beckman paused and her image was replaced by a picture of Jill. It had been taken from a surveillance camera a moderate distance away, but Sarah could instantly recognise that it was _her_. Those stupid bangs and ridiculous glasses were recognisable anywhere, and of course, her hair colour...Chuck's personal kryptonite. Still, as much as she _hated _Jill, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the woman in the photo. She had lost a considerable amount of weight and there were heavy bags under her eyes, conveying a tiredness that seem to stretch beyond the capacity of the photo...

NO!

She hated this woman. Chuck had rejected her for this woman. She wasn't going to feel sorry for her. _Jill_ was the one who had chosen to come back to L.A., to her and Chuck. _Her_ Boyfriend. Not Jill's, _hers._

"Nevertheless," Beckman continued, the image of Jill sliding to one side. "We are not going to take any chances over the danger that Jill Roberts still poses to you all. She has deceived us before and rest assured, we are not taking this threat lightly, particularly with the Intersect in its current condition."

Sarah swallowed heavily at this. As much as she might be overreacting – and she knew a lot of it was probably spurned on by jealously – Jill did pose an actual threat to Chuck. She couldn't afford to be emotional right now, not while Chuck was being threatened. _No-one_ threatened her Chuck.

Under the table, she felt Chuck's fingers brush lightly against hers. The contact only lasted for a second before he pulled his fingers back, but something tingled inside her causing her to momentarily forget about everything. Still looking at Beckman, she stretched her left hand back, returning the gesture. Their fingers gently touched, twisting around each other, intertwining. The movement between them was idle, yet there was a sense of co-ordination and familiarity.

She could feel the slightest trace of moisture against his fingers. He was nervous. She moved her fingers closer to his and gripped his palm, tightly. He squeezed back.

He didn't need to be nervous – _nothing_ was going to be happen to him. She wasn't going to let it. She couldn't.

"So, General," Sarah began, clearing her throat. "I presume that we're doing everything possible to locate Roberts..."

God, just saying that name really did leave a foul taste in her mouth. She'd just have to get Chuck to fix that later, after she apologised to him. Hello, Castle supply closet...

Beckman stared at her, frowning. "We're doing everything we can, Agent Walker." She sighed and looked down at some papers on her desk. "But Agent Roberts has managed to evade capture for two years. It might take a while..."

"What do you want us to do until then, General?" Chuck asked, sitting up. His hand was still tightly locked in her grip under the table.

Certainly not let you _anywhere_ near Jill Roberts, Sarah thought.

"My main concern right now, Agent Bartowski, is your safety. Therefore, I am placing you under twenty-four protection, until such time when I'm satisfied that the threat to you has lifted."

Casey barked a laugh. "You mean when Roberts is six feet under?"

Beckman overlooked his comment. "Colonel Casey, it will be your job to find and ascertain Agent Roberts. Agent Walker, it comes as no surprise that you will be handling the asset's protection."

"Understood, General," she replied. This arrangement wasn't going to be so bad... although it did seem that Casey was going to have all the fun. She would just have to have a different sort of fun. With Chuck. "Are you placing Chuck into lockdown?"

Beckman considered it for a moment. "No, I don't believe that's necessary...yet. However, there is something I must stress. Fulcrum and its parent organisation are no longer an active threat to the country. Any intelligence Jill Roberts knows about them is significantly outweighed by the threat she poses to the Intersect."

Chuck sat up again, his voice an octave higher. "What are you saying, General?"

"What I'm saying, Agent Bartowski, is that if a situation arises where your safety is threatened, Jill Roberts is expendable."

"Understood," she and Casey said simultaneously.

"Good," Beckman replied, before closing the link. "Keep me updated."

Did Beckman really just give the okay to kill Jill? Sarah thought, continuing to stare at the blank screen, still gripping Chuck's hand. Maybe she'd judged her a _little_ harshly over the ex comment, but that really wasn't all that relevant any more...The real question now was whether to use the sniper rifle or the uzi and suppressor. Hell, her fists would be just as fun. Oh, she couldn't wait to see the look on Jill's face when she realised she was about to have the full force of a fully armed and fully blonde Sarah Walker weigh down upon her.

"Well," Casey said, interrupting her from her little fantasy. "I guess I'll begin the hunt for the harpie. I'll leave you two to discuss-" He paused to deliberately smirk back and forth at the two of them. "-mission _details._"

Then it was just the two of them as Casey sunk into the depths of Castle, ready to begin the Jill hunt. Chuck wasn't going to be happy... He wouldn't approve of the order that Beckman had just given them, and that made her slightly glad – even if it was Jill. It meant he was still Chuck. Regardless, right now she had to clear the air. If they were going to face the J-word, they were damn sight going to do it together.

Time to face the music.

Still clinging on to Chuck's hand, she started to turn toward him in her seat. "Chuck, I..."

She never managed to finish. For as soon as she was fully facing him, his lips had coming crashing into hers. She was unresponsive for the first half a second, frozen in time as he passionately kissed her. Then she woke up, releasing his hand only to grab fistfuls of his shirt, pulling him closer. His hands were on her face now, steadying her as he deepened the kiss, his tongue gently brushing her lower lip...

When they finally came up for air, Sarah let her forehead rest against his as they both gasped. "Chuck, that was..."

"Something I should've done instead of answering Beckman's call," he finished. "Sarah, I'm sorry -"

"No," she interrupted, pulling back to look into his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I acted like such a bitch before – I know you weren't standing up for Jill. It's not a big deal."

"But it is a big deal. She tried to kill you, Sarah – whatever I may have felt for her vanished at that moment." He paused to gently stroke her cheek with his thumb. "_Nothing_ about her mattered to me after that. Nothing."

"She hurt you too, Chuck," she said quietly. If anything, what Chuck had just told her made her feel worse for the way she'd treated him this morning.

He smiled at her. "That doesn't matter to me any more. I wasted enough of my life dwelling about that. But there is something I need to ask you," he said. His expression turned suddenly serious, a sad look in his eye. "I know what Beckman ordered you to do, I understand. And believe me, I'm not asking this for me. But please, Sarah, promise me that you won't kill her."

She gazed into those deep brown eyes for a long time, contemplating. He wasn't asking this for himself, or out any lingering feelings he may have for Jill. He was asking this because he was a good person, because he couldn't stand to see another person hurt. She may have not believed anyone was evil, but Chuck certainly believed that everyone was fundamentally good, regardless of what they'd done in the past. Even Jill Roberts.

"Okay, Chuck," she said finally. "If I have a choice, I won't kill her. But there's something you have to understand. If _anyone_ threatens you, for even a moment, I won't hesitate."

He nodded solemnly. "I know, Sarah. There's something you should understand too. There's probably very little point me saying this, seeing as you make up 90 plus percent of the kick-ass in this relationship, but if anyone ever tried to hurt you...I know what'd I do. I – I wouldn't care about the consequences, I'd just stop them."

There was a fierce determination in his eyes, a rigour. It was almost as if just saying those words for him was difficult. Sarah gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile before pulling herself into his lap. He draped his arms around his stomach and held her close. Burying her face into his neck, she started to breathe slowly, relaxing herself into his scent.

"I know you would, Chuck," she said into his neck. "I know you would."

No-one was going to try a wedge between her and Chuck. No-one.

Not even Jill Roberts.

"Now let's go face that bitch."

# # #

_Again, if you like it (or not), please leave a review. I really love getting them, it spurs me on._

_Oh, and we will finally be seeing the harpie herself in chapter 3. Maybe. I know that I've ridiculously over-demonised Jill, but just remember: this chapter was from Sarah's POV._

_Also there will be plenty more fluff._


	3. Kill Jill, Part III

**A/N: **_So, um, yeah, it's been a while. I've been pretty busy lately, so it's taken me a while to write this – but it's ready now. Just wanted to say thanks for the encouragement you guys gave me for this chapter in your reviews, seriously, thanks a bunch! I hope you all enjoy this next little instalment. As always, any mistakes are my own. Oh and yeah, please review. Smiley face._

**Kill Jill, Part III**

"I dunno about you," Chuck said, still panting slightly, "but that's certainly the best ending to any briefing I've ever had."

There was a faint cat-like mumble of agreement from the seat next to him.

Stealing a quick glance at Sarah, he could see that she had stretched herself out in the passenger seat, head resting lazily against the safety belt, eyes half closed. It was a struggle to contain his grin at the small satisfied smile that had been etched on her face since the two of them had left Castle. It was even more of a struggle to force his eyes back to the road, and the _fantastic _lack of midday traffic.

"That was one _hell_ of a death stare Casey gave us though," he continued, remembering their – okay, _his, _rather embarrassing walk out of the supply closet and up the stairs. Sarah had seem completely unaware of the livid look on their partner's face. "I think he thinks we're unprofessional..."

Sarah sat up in the seat next to him and placed a reassuring hand on his. "Chuck, honey, I think that boat sailed a long time ago," she said gently, adding a squeeze. "Besides, Casey is way more traumatised at the prospect of what _Morgan_ is doing to his daughter than anything we did in that supply closet."

Chuck could only nod, trying hard to concentrate on _driving_ and not on the feeling that Sarah's touch was eliciting from him. and lots of_ driving._ "Yeah, wow, I'd hate to be Morgan and have to have that talk with Casey...But still, he's been _pretty _lenient before with us, you know?...I think this may have been the final straw..."

Sarah laughed and sat back in her seat, not before giving his hand another small squeeze. "Oh yeah? Why's that?" she asked.

"Well, erm, Sarah..." he stammered, feeling a sudden urge to cough, like, really. This was awkward...

"Yes?" she asked innocently, batting a couple of eyelashes at him in the mirror.

"You were kind of...loud."

Sarah snorted, which, despite its crudeness, Chuck found adorable – it wasn't exactly the reaction he'd been expecting. "I was loud? Really, Chuck?" She was laughing now.

Chuck felt himself reddening, and he couldn't quite understand what she found so funny. "Yeah, well – I mean, louder than usual. And rough – Did you have to be so rough?"

"Oh," she said quietly, leaving her mouth hanging open slightly. The amusement had suddenly dropped from her face, replaced by disappointment. "But...I thought you liked it when I was rough?"

_No! _Crap, he'd gone and done it again... ruining the moment by saying something stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Why couldn't he just leave things be? "No, Sarah, I wasn't – I mean, what I meant to say was – wait, why are you smiling?"

She couldn't keep a straight face any longer, the corners of her mouth were starting to curl upwards, revealing two cute front teeth. Damn, she had a hell of a poker face! "Very funny, Sarah."

She leant over to kiss his cheek, her soft lips rubbing against his stubble. "Yes, I am."

Chuck felt himself shiver, almost completely losing himself at the feel of her – _Crap!_ He suddenly had to swerve out of the path of a passing motorbike. Where the hell had that come from? Sarah, naturally, hadn't paid any attention to his swerving. _He really_ need to focus on the road. It was miracle barely any other drivers were on it; at this moment his spacial awareness of everything not named Sarah Walker was minimal...

Her voice suddenly drew him out of his thoughts. It had turned deadly serious. "I didn't...I didn't actually hurt you, did I?"

"What?" he cried, almost letting go of the wheel entirely. "No, of course not! I like all the scratches, honestly!"

"Good," Sarah said, sounding satisfied.

He couldn't tell whether she'd been joking again. Probably best to just let that be...

"Um, Sarah?" he asked tentatively. Okay, now was the time to stop talking before he said something stupid again. "Why exactly were you so..._scratchy_?"

She shot him a feral grin, looking extremely smug. "Just marking my property."

"Haha, yes, dear," he forced out, adding a laugh for good measure. _Of course._ That explained a lot. Despite there little talk after the briefing, Sarah was obviously still feeling very territorial about the J-word. It was kinda scary, in a sexy kinda way. Although...

"But it's not like Jill's gonna be seeing me without a shirt on..."

"What?"

"I said, it's not like Jill's gonna be seeing -"

She cut him off. "Why would Jill be seeing you without your shirt on, Chuck?"

"What? No, that's not what I said!"

"Why would Jill be seeing you without your shirt on, Chuck?" Sarah repeated more forcefully.

"No, no, no. Sarah, it was a joke! Jill's never gonna see me shirtless...again. Next time I'm around her, I'm gonna wear double the amount of shirts to make sure she never sees my chest – or your scratches!"

Turning the herder onto a quieter road he looked over to Sarah, who's eyes had narrowed considerably. "Next time you're around her, Chuck?" she said coolly.

"Hypothetically! If! I mean, c'mon, as big as it is, L.A.'s only got _so _many people in it and the last time she was here I – we certainly didn't have any trouble finding her and..." Chuck paused midway through babbling, acutely aware that Sarah probably didn't want to hear about his past times with Jill, or Jill at all, for that matter.

"_And_, Chuck?" she asked tersely, folding her arms across her chest.

"And did I tell you how beautiful you looked this morning?" he quickly finished. "Not just, you know, light up the room like you normally do beautiful, more like light up the sky at night beautiful, and the whole rest of the universe with it beautiful."

Sarah unfolded her arms and sat back in her seat, the tension visibly lifting in her shoulders. Her cheeks were also gaining a little bit of colour. "No, you haven't," she said quietly. "At least not with the universe bit."

"Well, Sarah Walker, that's how beautiful you look."

She didn't respond. She just gave him one of her small secret smiles, the ones that made her the alluring mystery that she was. The ones that she saved, just for him.

"Hey, I know we're supposed to be going home for my _protection_ and all," he said, making sure to add air quotes, "but what do you say about me taking you somewhere for lunch, seeing as we didn't really get a proper ending to our vacation?"

"Chuck, I don't think that's a good idea," she said, shuffling in her seat. "A restaurant would be to exposed and -"

He cut her off. "C'mon, Sarah. Jill's hardly gonna know where we'd go for lunch! "

He could see her mouth tensing as her mind wrestled with the decision. "Okay, Chuck," she said finally, still sounding slightly reluctant.

"Great," he said, spinning the car around. "I know this wonderful little Italian place that does the best -"

But he could list all the various mouth-watering tortellini dishes that Morgan had recommended, Sarah's phone interrupted him. The customised ringtone in question, _You Give Love A Bad Name_ by Bon Jovi, which he himself had added, told him that lunch may just have to wait.

"Sorry, Chuck," Sarah apologised, before answering the phone. "Yeah, Casey, what's up?"

"What? You found her? That was fast."

Chuck's head shot up in anticipation – there was no doubt who the "her" was.

"Where did you find her?" Sarah asked, adding a small growl to her voice. Her free hand had also managed to find his arm and was gripping it tightly, although Sarah seemed too engrossed in her conversation to have noticed. Some far off part of Chuck's brain had the sense to quickly pull the car off the road – driving whilst under Sarah's death grip probably wasn't the best of ideas.

"Beckman's that serious, huh?" she said, only just failing to conceal her amusement.

Chuck found himself swallowing heavily. Beckman taking things seriously probably wasn't something that would bode well for Jill, particularly with a trigger-happy Casey around.

"Okay, understood. Yeah, we're almost back. Update me later," Sarah finished, hanging up the phone. She looked over to Chuck, at the way he was sitting on the edge of his seat, and released his arm. He wasn't stupid enough to rub it in front of her.

"So," he said uneasily.

"So." She nodded in agreement.

"Where is she?" he asked, looking straight into cerulean. She met his eyes, and he couldn't tell whether he was looking at Sarah, or Agent Walker.

"A surveillance camera spotted her near a small warehouse not too far from here," she said tonelessly. "Casey's taking a tactical team to intercept her."

"A tactical team?" Chuck asked, frowning. "Surely that's a little overkill?"

Sarah shrugged. "Standard procedure for enemies of the state."

_Enemies of the State?_ Jill was hardly an enemy of the state, well, technically she was... But she was Jill Roberts! Sarah had already promised him she wasn't going to try and kill Jill, despite her feeling towards towards the woman. A full tactical team lead by Casey on the other hand, someone who saw Jill simply as a traitor...

"Sarah, if Casey goes in all guns blazing there's only gonna be one thing that results."

A small twitch of her lip betrayed her emotionless expression, and he knew she could tell what he was about to ask. "It might not work out that way," she said simply, almost pleading.

He couldn't let her die.

"We could get there first," he started to say. "I can – we can get her to come quietly, I know we can."

This time there was no jealously on Sarah's face, her mouth only hung open wordlessly before her entire face contorted into a beleaguered expression. "Chuck, I have to protect you..."

"Please, Sarah. I can't let her die," he begged.

She broke eye contact him and looked away. A part of him thought that he saw tears welling in her eye, but a blink later and they were gone.

"Sarah-"

"Okay," she interrupted, finally speaking. "We'll do it."

Chuck just nodded, fearing for what he may have done.

"One condition though – you stay in the car!"

# # #

It took them a little over five minutes to reach the address Casey had told her. Sure enough, it was a warehouse. A part of her thought it slightly cliché that so many things seemed to happen to the two of them in warehouses.

Chuck had sabotaged his relationship with that stupid Italian midget in a warehouse, accusing her of smuggling – not that Sarah was complaining about that particular incident. The two of them, along side Cole Barker, had been tortured in a warehouse. Bryce Larkin, with his _fantastic _timing, had returned from the dead in a warehouse. Chuck had uploaded the 2.0 in a warehouse. Still, there was one warehouse in particular that forever held a special place in her heart, one that they had been in almost four years ago, one that had led to a cataclysm of events that had cumulated in one thing: Chuck. However bumpy the road had been, that moment in that warehouse had led her to Chuck, or rather, to her and Chuck. So while Casey hated them – the typical bad guy hide out – she still had a soft spot for warehouses.

That might be all be about to change, she thought as she made sure her throwing knives were strapped into place on her thigh.

Her and Chuck hadn't really spoken on the way over. They had, however, held hands. Even if she may not fully agree with what they were about to do, Sarah sure as hell wasn't going to let things deteriorate back to this morning. She knew Chuck could sense she was uncomfortable with this, but she wasn't going to blame him for not wanting Jill to die – despite her own not-so-pleasant wishes for the woman.

Chuck put the car into park on the street outside. "I don't think this is a good idea, Sarah," he said, turning to face her. "You shouldn't be going in alone; it's not safe, I could come with you..."

As much as the concentrated look of concern on his face plagued her, his worry was touching. Nevertheless, Chuck's safety was paramount. "Chuck, it's gonna be fine. _I'm _gonna be fine," she said giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Besides," she continued with a smirk. "I can handle Jill Roberts."

Chuck's expression didn't break. He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed it. "I know."

She smiled at him. "I'd better get going before Casey gets here. But I gotta do one thing first..."

Placing his hand back on the wheel, Sarah leant over and kissed him fully on the mouth. It was only brief, and both her and Chuck were left wanting more. Still, she'd managed to get what she needed.

"Sarah, I..."

"I really am sorry, Chuck," she said before hitting the "lock" button on the keys she'd swiped from the ignition. Before Chuck could react, manacles shot out from the steering wheel encasing his wrists and locking his arms into place. He seemed too surprised to struggle against them, his eyes just looked at her, shocked.

"W-what are you doing, Sarah?" he stammered, trying to pull his arms free to no avail.

"I'm sorry, Chuck," she said, and she genuinely meant it. She hoped he'd forgive her for this. "I wish there was another way. But you _never_ stay in the car."

Checking her _Smith & Wesson _was loaded, she stepped out the car, leaving Chuck entirely speechless. With a final apologetic look to Chuck, she slammed the door back closed and pressed the "lock" button on the keys again. With a metallic clunk, the herder's doors all sealed into place. Chuck may not be getting out, but no-one was getting in either. No-one.

Pushing thoughts of Chuck out of her mind – right now she had to deal with a certain brunette, and to do that Agent Walker was needed, not Sarah, the shitty backstabbing girlfriend - she moved away from the road, towards the eight foot wall that separated the warehouse from the street. A jump and a hop later and she was over, which the Orange Orange uniform, in all its usefulness, wasn't all that practical for.

She could see now that the warehouse looked deserted, nothing but a couple of empty loading docks. Definitely no boyfriend stealing brunette harpies here – then again, she never was able to see them coming... For instance, how the hell could they tell what _flight _he'd be on...

A short run put her in front of a open side door, which she promptly slid through. The lights were off inside, and the only illumination was from the dim sunlight that managed to penetrate through small windows at the top of the tall walls. Crates, as ever, were everywhere, stacked the ceiling, and Sarah started to slowly navigate down one of the long corridors that they created. Her quiet footsteps were the only thing that broke the near silence and she let her _Smith & Wesson _guide her.

A couple of minutes later and she was at the other side of the warehouse, only to have found nothing. If Jill had ever been here – and Sarah was seriously starting to doubt that – then she was long gone. Maybe Casey's intel had be wrong, or maybe...this was his idea of payback for her and Chuck fuc-

Sarah was suddenly pulled from her thoughts as her eyes caught an all to familiar face.

_Bitch_!

Standing about thirty feet away, halfway along a corridor perpendicular to the one she'd just walked down, was Jill. She was wearing a long coat and sunglasses – inside, really? – but it was definitely her. Instinct took over and Sarah quickly pressed herself against the nearest crate. Fortunately, Jill had yet to see her. That was about to change.

Sarah figured she had about three seconds before Jill looked around and noticed her. There was no way she could go for a silent take-down in that time, definitely not in the exposed crate corridor. That left her with few options...

Gripping the _Smith & Wesson _with both hands, she took a deep breath and wishing Chuck to be right, aimed it down the corridor. "Jill," she called out loudly.

Jill barely even looked up before her lightning reflexes kicked in. She dived for cover next to a crate, knocking her sunglasses off in the process, and the next thing Sarah knew was that there was a gun pointed at her. Fulcrum had evidently trained her well.

"Jill," Sarah repeated, cautiously aware that the woman hadn't immediately fired. "Drop the gun, Jill."

The light was too dim and Jill was too far away, but Sarah could've sworn she could see the look of concentration on her face, processing, trying to place the voice. Maybe she was just seeing things, but that was nearly the same expression Chuck wore when he was trying to figure out a puzzle. She hated that.

"Drop the gun, Jill," Sarah said again, this time more forcefully.

"Sarah Walker?" a confused voiced said from the end of the corridor. The voice sounded tired and worn out, and for the second time today, Sarah chastised herself for _almost_ feeling sorry for Jill Roberts. "What are you..."

"C'mon, Jill," she said, in what she hoped was a reassuring voice. "Please, let's do this the easy way. I promised Chuck I wouldn't hurt you."

"Chuck's here?"

_Dammit_! Why did she have to bring Chuck up? She also couldn't help but notice the slight elation in her voice at the mention of him.

"No, Jill, it's just me." she said defiantly. She was willing to let Jill live for Chuck's sake, but they sure as hell _weren't _going to talk about him. "I'm here to bring you in. We can work out a deal."

Sarah could see that Jill's arm had wavered slightly. "A deal?" she laughed, or least what Sarah thought was an attempt at laughing; it came across as more of a hollow sigh. "The U.S. Government isn't gonna deal with me, Sarah. Fulcrum's gone. I have nothing to offer them."

"We'll work something out," Sarah said, trying to reason. "Please, Jill, you have to trust me."

"Trust you? The last time I saw you, you wanted to kill me!"

"Some things haven't changed," Sarah grumbled to herself. Jill wasn't making this easy. She wanted to point out that Jill had tried to kill her first – and hurt Chuck! But she sensed that probably wasn't going to help matters...

Dammit, this went against all protocol, but Chuck had asked her to not hurt to Jill, and fool as she may be, she was a fool who listened to him.

"Okay, Jill, look," Sarah said loudly, stepping forward. "I'm putting down my gun. We can work this all out, okay?"

Sarah slowly bent to the ground, weapon held loosely in her open palm, Jill eyeing her all the while. Depositing it carefully on the concrete, she started to stand back up, hands held in the air. "It's just us, Jill. You can trust me."

As Sarah stood in the open should could see that Jill hands were trembling, shaking with a combination of nerves and adrenaline. As trained as she was, Sarah could tell that Jill didn't like guns.

And then it happened.

Very slowly, Jill started to lower her weapon.

"You-you can help me?" she asked timidly. It sounded very un-Jill like.

"Yeah," Sarah said confidently. "No-one wants to hurt you, but you're gonna have -"

Then all hell broke loose.

The sound of smashing glass and cries of "Federal Agent, don't move!", echoed through the warehouse. Looking up, Sarah could see SWAT personnel coming in from all directions – the walls, the ceiling, everywhere. Unfortunately, so could Jill.

"I thought you said I could trust you, Sarah!" she cried, betrayal scattered throughout her voice.

Suddenly her gun was back in the air.

Sarah could only dive out of the way as the first shot went off.


	4. Kill Jill, Part IV

**A/N:** _It's been a while. A very long while. Sorry about that. I have excuses, but you probably don't wanna hear them. But, yay! An update! Woot! Thanks a bunch to _**_NMH_**_ for beta'ing this chapter for me. She's awesome. Enjoy._

**Kill Jill, Part IV**

At any other moment, in any other place, Chuck would have been embarrassed.

He would have been _beyond_ embarrassed.

Restrained to the steering wheel of his own car was so far past any form of irony or cliché that it probably would have physically pained him – that is, had he not been currently shitting himself about what was going on in the warehouse outside.

That was all he could think about as he struggled against the manacles that were locking him in place for what felt like the thousandth time. He could just about get the restraints to flex, but they seemed to be made out of some crazy strong rubber alloy, making it all but impossible for him to break free of them – save for perhaps pulling the whole steering wheel off. As much as he'd been working out recently – which Sarah had _wholeheartedly_ appreciated – he was nowhere near strong enough to do that any time soon.

Sarah.

The more time he spent struggling and waiting, the more worried he became about her.

She was inside the warehouse, alone, with Jill, and whoever else might be inside.

It was only now, locked inside his own car, that he realised how stupid and naïve he'd been by asking Sarah to come here and help Jill. Of course, when he agreed that he'd stay in the car, he _hadn't_ actually meant it. Useless as he might be in tactical situations without the Intersect, he'd had absolutely no intention of letting her confront Jill alone. And by now, Sarah knew him _far_ too well to trust him to stay in the car on his own, not while she put herself at risk, and she had, of course, seen through him.

Not wanting Jill to die wasn't the same as trusting her, and after everything that had happened in the past decade, he didn't trust Jill one bit. Not that he didn't think Sarah couldn't take of herself, but if _anything _happened to her...No, he wasn't going to go there. He couldn't.

Dammit!

Then the whole vehicle was suddenly jolted forward, and Chuck felt his face collide with the steering wheel. Groaning, he strained his head back to see what had hit the herder. The entire view out of the back window was obscured by a giant, gleaming, metallic bumper of what he could only presume was a very large van.

Chuck swallowed; this was either really, really bad or –

A not-so-gentle tap at the window caused him to lurch his head back round. As Chuck peered up at the window, he could see that standing there, was John Casey, dressed in full tactical gear, one hand over his eyes.

"Please, god, Bartowski, tell me that Walker's not there under the wheel."

"What?" Chuck asked. "Do you _see_ her in here? And why the hell would she be under the wheel?"

Casey grunted, still covering his eyes. "After the performance you two put on in the supply closet this morning, I'm not putting anything past you."

Chuck felt himself start to go red. _Really? _In the car, with his hand locked to the steering wheel?_ That_ would have been extreme – even for Sarah. Though she had been talking about tying him up lately...

"Dammit, Casey, open your eyes," he said, trying to shake off the thought. "She's not in here. She locked me in here and went in -"

"After Roberts?" Casey finished with a defeated sigh. "I wonder who_ talked _her into that?"

Chuck looked away guiltily. He didn't need Casey to remind him of that. "Look, will you please just let me out so we can go in and help her?" he pleaded. "Anything could be going on in there!"

Casey pulled a set of keys out of a pouch on his vest and dangled them in front of him. "If I let you out," he said, looking at Chuck seriously. "You stay here, okay?"

"Fine, Casey, all right," he said, getting increasingly irritated. "Just get in there!"

Casey pressed a button on the key causing the manacles to retract back in the wheel, and Chuck immediately pulled his arms free. Massaging his wrists, he stepped out of the vehicle.

"Johnson. Perry," Casey barked at the team of SWATs who were assembling outside the warehouse. "Get over here."

Two men came running over.

"Make sure he doesn't go anywhere," Casey said, jabbing his thumb in Chuck's direction.

"Really, Casey!" Chuck exclaimed as the two men stepped into his path, effectively trapping him in front of the herder. "Two guys?"

Casey ignored him, signalling the rest of his men to move out. As they reached the wall that led into the abandoned warehouse, though, he turned.

"Don't worry, Chuck. Your girlfriend will be fine" he said gently, before adding a wink "At least the blonde one will."

Chuck flung his hands up in the air in frustration, feeling helpless, as he watched Casey follow the rest of his men over the wall.

The shit really was about to hit the fan.

# # #

Stupid.

Fucking.

Bitch.

Sarah really wanted to kill Jill for this.

Not only had she started _shooting_ at her – naturally missing, of course – after Casey's team had made their dramatic entrance through the windows, but now, she was making her run.

And she _really_ was not wearing the right shoes for running. Not at all.

And her feet were starting to hurt.

She wasn't dressed even for running; she'd only changed into the spare Orange Orange uniform that was stored in castle as a treat for Chuck! Now she was having to run in it, and she was sure that she looked positively ridiculous.

This was what she got for trying to help Chuck's _ex-girlfriend_.

Stupid.

Fucking.

Bitch.

After Jill had fired a couple of shots her way, she'd taken off, sprinting towards the opposite end of the warehouse. Casey's team had been too slow to react, leaving it up to her to grab her _S&W_ off the floor where she'd dropped it – an act of trust in the harpie, no less – and give chase. Naturally.

Jill had nearly reached the other end of the warehouse now, and she could vaguely hear Casey's voice yelling from behind her, somewhere in the distance, through all the sounds of glass being broken.

Sarah had yet to return fire. As pissed as she was right now – and she was _pissed_ – she'd made a promise to Chuck and couldn't bring herself to break it; she wasn't going to kill Jill, much as she might want to. Although, Chuck hadn't mentioned anything about wounding her. One in the leg never did anyone any harm, right?

Chuck still probably wouldn't approve.

She rounded a final corner just in time to see Jill explode out of a door and into the open, her long coat waving wildly behind her, and Sarah sprinted right after her.

Stupid Jill.

# # #

Panic flooded through Chuck – even more than before – the moment he heard the shots go off, and Casey's men had to restrain him to stop him charging head first in the direction from where they'd come from. The two men had easily managed to overpower him, his haphazard attempt at flashing doing him no favours.

He'd shot off more curses than he cared to remember, only calming down when he heard over the SWAT's radio that no-one appeared to be down, and they had in turn relaxed their grip on him slightly. He took a deep sigh of relief.

What the hell was going on in there?

The sound of footsteps broke him out of his panic.

They were coming from down the street. Fast footsteps, they were fast. Someone was running!

Then, without warning, Jill came sprinting out from round the corner, cross-cutting across the street and through to the alley opposite. There was no doubt; it was her.

And she was limping.

Shit.

"Jill!" he cried without thinking.

He wasn't sure whether she heard, but Casey's men did, looking at him in surprise. But before they could react, he'd already hoisted himself up onto the roof of the Herder and ran down the hood. He hit the ground with a bump, and sprinted towards the alley that Jill had run down seconds before.

He didn't even look behind to see if they were running after him.

"Jill!" he shouted again stupidly, not exactly sure what he was doing.

And where the hell was Sarah?

Jill was already starting to reach the end of the alley as he charged into it, leaping over several discarded boxes.

"Jill, STOP!" he shouted, already starting to pant.

And, to his surprise, she stopped, skidding to a halt. She turned, backing up a few steps towards him.

"Chuck?" she asked, seeming more shocked than surprised. "What are you..."

Even though he was still a distance from her, he could see that Jill was breathing heavily, her hair messy from running. One thing, though, was clear above all else: She hadn't been shot.

"Where's Sarah, Jill?" he asked fiercely.

"S-she tried to kill me, Chuck," Jill stuttered. "She didn't even give me a chance, she just came in shooting."

"What?"

"It's the truth," she said in a pitiful voice, her shoulders rising up and down as she gasped for air. "She tried to kill me. She hates me, Chuck. Please don't let her kill me."

Chuck started to shake his head in disbelief, not comprehending what she was saying. "No...No, you're wrong. Sarah wouldn't do that. She promised me -"

"Get out of the way, Chuck!"

Jill's eyes suddenly rounded to the size of golf balls, and she looked like a deer, standing in the face of headlights. Chuck quickly spun around to see Sarah slowing down from a run, closing in on the alley, her _Smith & Wesson_ levelled in a predatory grip. In the direction of Jill.

"No, Sarah, don't!" he said instinctively, stepping out and into her line of fire.

"Dammit, Chuck, get down!" she cried her voice a crazed mixture of panic and rage.

But he didn't move, continuing to make sure he was between Sarah's gun and Jill. And then that was all he could see. Sarah's gun in front. Jill behind. Only him between.

"What the hell are you trying to do?" he asked, glaring straight at her, channelling all the anger and betrayal that had suddenly erupted inside him. "Isn't one attempt enough for today?"

Sarah's gun wavered slightly.

"What?" she asked, her voice a weak fraction of what it had been seconds before.

Chuck started moving towards her. He was vaguely aware of the sound of Jill fleeing behind him, only he no longer cared. Sarah as well, he was surprised to see, remained frozen in place.

"Is that why you agreed to come here?" he said, continuing to close in on her."Casey and his team weren't enough? You had to do the job yourself? And why you locked me in the car? So I wouldn't stop you!"

Sarah took a couple of steps back, her gun arm dropping limping to her side, falling into a slump. It lacked grace and there was no other way to describe it. "Is – is that what _she_ told you?" she asked hoarsely, struggling to form the words.

_What she told him?_

Chuck stopped in place, suddenly dumbstruck, as Sarah's words dawned on.

Jill had said -

_Oh, crap._

Seconds later Casey and several of his men came charging into the alley from behind Sarah, stopping just short of her. Casey stared back and forth, wide eyed and frowning at the silence that had fallen between them.

"Walker?" he asked puzzled.

Sarah just looked at him numbly. "That way," she said, pointing with her free hand in the direction that Jill had ran.

Casey paused for a moment, before turning to his men. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he barked. "GO!"

As his team sprinted off after Jill, Casey himself stayed behind, continuing to look between them.

"Something either of you wanna tell me?"

Chuck ignored him, focusing on Sarah who was staring at the ground, feeling as the floor had been dropped out from under him as what he'd done started to sink in. "Sarah, I -"

"How the hell could you even _think_ that?" Sarah snapped, abruptly looking at him. Guilt started to sweep through him as Sarah stood there, fiery eyes practically screaming at him.

"I'm sorry -" he tried to stutter, only to have the words choked in his throat. "I...I..."

Sarah shut him up with a wave of her hand. "Save it, Chuck. I don't want to hear it," she said dismissively before turning to Casey. "Can you watch him?"

Casey nodded passively without commenting, and Sarah turned her back to both of them, before starting to head back up the alley.

"Where are you going?" Chuck asked starting after her, having finally found his voice.

She paused and turned back to him. "Away. I'm sorry, Chuck, but I just can't stand to be around you right now."

Chuck felt his jaw start to drop, and he quickly tried to follow her, only to be blocked by the butt of Casey's rifle.

"Let her go, Bartowski," he said calmly. "You're only gonna make things worse right now."

Chuck slowly started to back away from him, watching Sarah fade out of sight as she turned the corner, realising just how right Casey probably was, and what an idiot he'd been.

# # #

**A/N:** _There are a couple of chapters left of this chapter. They should both be up in the next couple of weeks, __along with chapter 13 of "vs the World." _


	5. Kill Jill, Part V

**A/N: **_Here's a nice update for y'all – always wanted to say that. Thank to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I really enjoyed reading them. Massive thanks for _**_NMH_**_ for taking the time to beta this chapter – seriously, it's so much better than it was! Hope you enjoy, and remember to review. :)_

**Kill Jill, Part V**

The drive back to Castle went by far too quickly for Sarah's liking. Far, far too quickly. She liked driving. It was simple. Simple and uncomplicated, just like her life used to be. Even if she was only driving the Herder and not her beloved Porsche, it still helped her relax. It meant she didn't have to think; not about Chuck – the idiot – or that brunette bitch. Unfortunately, though, when consistently pressing fifty regardless of the speed limit, the time it took to travel between distances was greatly reduced.

Castle was deserted when she got there, thankfully. Casey and his team were still mopping up at the warehouse, no doubt still trying to find Jill, and the resident Gretas of the week were on duty upstairs in the BuyMore, being trailed by Jeff and Lester who, in passing her, had mumbled that she looked much hotter now that she was _in heat_, whatever the hell that meant. Regardless, a single fiery glare from her had sent them cowering with their tails between their legs. She really couldn't understand why still, after all these years, that Chuck still put – dammit, she wasn't going to think about _him_!

But as much as those two moronic, chauvinistic idiots enraged her – and they could _really_ piss her off – it was only one face she saw as she unloaded the full fifteen rounds of her _S&W_ into the dummy target across the firing range. Brunette. Brown eyes. Gangly. Bitch. The unpalatable, searing anger that she felt could be loose here. Here, now, in a fucking controlled environment, where no-one was watching.

Stupid.

Fucking.

Jill.

By the time she finished, she had burnt through several magazines, her shoulders were stiff from tension, and the offending stench of cordite was piercing the air. She slumped against the wall next to her, exhausted, the burning desire to kill something slightly jaded. For now.

Although it had been _Jill's_ face that she'd been pretending to re-decorate with nice, 9mm-sized holes, it wasn't even Jill that was she was annoyed with. No misunderstandings – she hated the bitch, now more than ever. But it was to be expected from _her._ She was a manipulative liar and a cheat; she'd done it before.

And now she'd gone and done it to Chuck, again, just like _before,_ and he'd believed her. Stupid Chuck. Unquestioningly, believing that she had locked him in the car, breaking her word to him, in order to settle a personal score with Jill – as if _that_ was more important to her. That she'd _betrayed_ him. He'd taken Jill's word, fully knowing what little weight that carried, over hers. He'd trusted Jill over her. His girlfriend. His partner. His friend. As much as she might want to pretend otherwise, it was that simple.

And the way he'd looked at her.

That hurt.

More than she cared to admit.

"Dammit," she muttered, before wiping her eyes with the back of her free hand. She wasn't going to cry – no, not over this. Not like the last time. Not like before, when Chuck had left her. Not again.

She dropped the spent weapon back on the desk in front of her and headed out of Castle, which was still deserted. It was harder to concentrate on the drive home. Much harder. When she made it back to Echo Park, the day was already starting to wane, the sun sinking downwards in the sky, flirting ever more closely with the horizon. Through the brightly lit courtyard, Sarah could see that the lights were still off in her apartment.

She breathed a silent sigh of relief; Chuck must still be out with Casey – she wanted some time. Bypassing the door, she climbed straight through the window into the bedroom and shut it behind her, drawing the blind. The bed was still unmade from this morning, from when she had stormed out in a haze of naivety and assumption, leaving Chuck struggling to apologise for something he hadn't done. She wished the same was true now; that what had happened had been a mistake, some terrible misunderstanding on her part. But it wasn't. The cynical part of her brain was already clawing itself back forward, reminding her that she always knew something like this would happen – that Chuck's trust in her had been shattered after what had happened with his mom.

Her legs suddenly felt weak from under her, the anger that had been propping her up before was gone, leaving her only with the facts. She collapsed onto the centre of the bed. Their bed. Balling her fists against the covers, she drew her knees against her chest, leaving her wrapped in the foetal position, inhaling the traces of his scent.

"Oh, Chuck," she mumbled before finally succumbing, and she let it all out.

# # #

He'd fucked up.

Seriously, without a doubt, he really had.

He knew it the second he saw the look of betrayal in Sarah's eyes, the fear and anguish etched on her face, knowing then that, once again, Jill had played him for a fool, and he'd believed her. He'd eaten up her poison, and spat it right back out at Sarah. In the hours since, he'd replayed those seconds over and over again in his head, trying to make sense of his actions. He hadn't truly believed what she'd said; he hadn't wanted to, and the rational part of his brain knew it wasn't true. But he hadn't been thinking rationally.

But there she had been: Jill, running, limping, battered, fleeing gunshots, and just _hearing_ her say those words, that Sarah had tricked him and lied to him, made him so angry – not angry at Jill, not angry at Sarah; but angry at the concept that _that_ could ever happen; angry that someone would even _suggest _that.

Everything after that with Sarah just felt like a chaotic blur.

He'd had plenty of time to reflect, sitting alone in the back of the SWAT van while Casey's team swept the warehouse and the surrounding area, and he still couldn't entirely make sense of his actions. Casey hadn't said much to him before ordering him to stay there, though once Sarah was out of sight, he had thoroughly backhanded him. It he hadn't already been feeling so distraught, it probably would have hurt more. He deserved as much. Ten times as much, after what he'd said to Sarah. It pained him just thinking about what she must be feeling right now.

After calling off the search for Jill – the failure of which, Casey had reminded him, was entirely his fault – he'd been dropped off back at the BuyMore. Even though the store was already starting to close up, and he didn't really have anything to do, it was better to hang around in the BuyMore than in Castle or Echo Park. Sarah would be there, and she probably didn't want to see him. He couldn't blame her.

The manager's office was empty when he looked, so he wearily sunk back behind the Nerd Herd desk and tried his buddy on his phone. Morgan was quick to answer; apparently he was getting fed up of the father/son bonding sessions Big Mike was insisting on putting them through. When Chuck told him about what had happened with Sarah, Morgan's advice on what to do wasn't particularly helpful. Sarah probably wouldn't accept demonic possession or late onset of Tourettes as a valid apology. After bidding his friend goodbye, he slumped back in the chair.

As responsible as he had become recently, Chuck hadn't really expected Morgan to be of any help, but speaking to his friend always seemed to calm him. Not this time, he thought grimly. He hated this. Another fight. Not long after their last one, and right after Thailand.

More than anything right now, he felt conflicted. A part of him desperately wanted to go to Sarah, to call her, to speak to her, to reassure her, anything. Several times, he forcibly had to stop himself jumping up from his chair and seeking her out. But, the more logical part of his brain knew; she wouldn't want to see him. It had only been a few hours, after all, and she probably wanted some space – some time away from _him._

The iPhone on his desk was looking incredibly tempting. A simple text couldn't hurt, right? He could apologise _and_ she didn't have to see him. No, a text was far, far too impersonal – besides, a simple text wasn't going to make this right. He had to do this face to face. But when? And what the hell would he say? Sorry, Sarah, Jill said you were trying to kill her and it kind of seemed like that at the time.

He just didn't know what to do.

Screw it, he had to do something.

Without waiting any further, he reached forward and grabbed the phone off his desk, and dialled a number.

He needed help.

# # #

It was forty-five minutes later when Ellie stepped into the BuyMore. She was fresh off her shift, a jacket pulled over her loose fitting scrubs that were barely concealing her growing baby bump, and looked weary. Though she smiled when she saw Chuck moving towards her.

"Hey, baby brother," she said, drawing him in for a hug. "You want to tell me what's so important that we had to meet here and not at home?"

Chuck stepped back from her, already starting to feel guilty for burdening his pregnant sister and dragging her away from her life. He still didn't know what to say.

"Chuck?" she prompted.

"I fucked up, El," he said simply, and then before he knew it, the words were flowing out. "I did something stupid, really stupid and now Sarah...I've really hurt her, and I don't know if she's gonna forgive me."

Ellie's eyes widened in surprise, both her arms instinctively dropping to cradle her bump, before she forced a smile. "Okay, Chuck, just calm down. Let's go grab some coffee and we'll talk about this, okay?"

Chuck took a deep breath and nodded. He knew that caffeine definitely wouldn't help him right now, but talking to Ellie would, and he needed to do something, before he screwed things up even more.

They walked to a small coffee place on the other side of the retail park, which Ellie had insisted on. She no longer went to Lou's – apparently Sarah had been spreading rumours about their questionable hygiene practices, and Ellie was anything if not crazy when it came to hygiene and cleanliness. Chuck got them both a cup of decaf, and they settled down to table.

"Hi," Ellie said, smiling at him.

"Hi," Chuck said back, returning a meek smile.

"So," she said brusquely, taking a sip of her coffee. "Tell me what happened."

Chuck paused. Ellie still didn't know he was back in the CIA; he was going to have to lie, which was only going to make him feel worse. Though what he'd done didn't exactly require a CIA explanation. It was his screw-up, not theirs.

"Sarah thinks..." He took a deep breath, trying and failing to calm himself. "That I didn't trust her, and it's true. I took someone else's word over hers and I accused her of lying to me."

Ellie regarded him for a moment. "Oh?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding grimly. "It was a stressful situation and I wasn't thinking...I just panicked."

"Well have you tried apologising?" Ellie asked softly.

"It's not that simple," he said, feeling his mouth go dry. "Sarah, she...doesn't want to see me. El, the other person...it was Jill."

Ellie choked on her coffee. "_Jill_?" she repeated, seething, her nose turning upward into a snarl. "Jill!"

Several people looked around at them, most staring disapprovingly at Chuck, and he felt himself going red. Ellie noticed this too, and took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Jill?" she asked again, more calmly this time.

"Um, yeah," he said, scratching the back of his head. His cup of coffee was suddenly very interesting.

Ellie shook her head from side to side. "I _really_ hate that woman," she said, her voice sounding strangely nonchalant, before suddenly becoming more aggressive. "What the hell were you – wait, does this have anything to do with Sarah's work?"

Chuck looked up. "What? No, of course not," he said quickly. Ellie looked unconvinced. "I, um, ran into her today and she said some bad things about Sarah – that she'd lied to me – and I didn't know what to think. Then Sarah arrived, and I just freaked and maybe, sort of, accused her of lying and betraying me."

He took a large gulp of coffee, not wanting to see Ellie's reaction – scolding his mouth in the process. However, when he did risk a glance, he saw that she didn't look angry. She just looked sad.

"Chuck," she said slowly. "Why would you do that?"

"I don't know," he said, shaking his head from side to side. "I really don't know. It's not even true, what I said. I trust Sarah more than anyone. Jill just...It's not like I have feelings for her anymore, but even after all this time, she still know how to play me."

Ellie raised her eyebrows. "Where is she now?"

"Gone, I guess," he said shrugging. "It was a spur of the moment thing. Jill didn't exactly stick around."

"Not Jill, idiot," she said, tutting in disapproval. "Where's Sarah?"

"I'm not entirely sure," he mumbled. "Back at the apartment, I presume."

She looked at him quizzically. "Is that why you're hiding out at the BuyMore after closing time? To avoid her?"

He shrugged guiltily. "I...She doesn't want to see me, El."

"Chuck," she said seriously. "I know you don't like confronting problems, okay. But trust me on this; you need to go home and fix this. Now."

"But-"

"No buts, Chuck," she interrupted. "You took the word of your _ex-girlfriend_ over Sarah's. Sarah, Chuck. Sarah. However pissed she may be at you right now, you need to go apologise and you need to do it now. Leaving things is only going to make it worse."

"Yeah, you're right," he said, slowly starting to nod his head up and down. Ellie was always right. He needed to fix this.

Ellie smiled at him strangely. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go!"

# # #

It was dark when he crossed the courtyard of Echo Park towards the apartment, and with every closing step he could feel his heart beating louder.

Ellie had remained at the coffee shop after he'd left, saying that it would be nice to have some time to herself – well, her and the Bartowski-Woodcombe to be. Though, he secretly thought that she didn't want him to think that she was pressuring him, or worse, supervising him. So, with the Herder gone, it had been up to Casey to drop him home, who was, after all, supposed to be watching him. Afterwards, he'd grumpily returned to Castle to continue the Jill hunt, mumbling something about him being Walker's problem now. Casey didn't like to work nights.

When he reached the door, he noticed that the lights were all off inside, giving him pause. What if Sarah wasn't here? Or worse, what if she was asleep? He didn't want to wake her. Nevertheless, Ellie was right; he had to apologise.

He knocked on the door. "Um, Sarah?" he called.

No answer.

He tried again. "Sarah? It's me. It's Chuck. Can I come in?"

Still no answer.

He shrugged, before opening the door and letting himself in.

The living room was dark, so dark that he could barely see the outlines of the furniture. He closed the door behind him and started to fumble around for the light switch when he saw movement -

_Whoosh._

The air was suddenly knocked out of him as something leapt onto his chest, and he was catapulted backwards against the door, a barrage of limbs grabbing him from all directions. Surprise and panic quickly drained as he felt soft, warm lips press against his neck.

"Sarah?" he asked puzzled, quickly moving his arms to support her weight.

"Hi, Chuck," she said seductively, continuing to plant kisses along his neck, and he felt his jacket being pulled off.

"What are you -"

He was suddenly silenced as she thrust her lips into his, biting at his lower lip, and he could smell the liquor on her breath.

Then, when that was over, she released her legs from around his waist, letting her bare feet hit the ground, and using her new found position of power, she slammed him back against the door and went to work on removing his belt.

With his free hand he somehow managed to flick on a light. He could now that she'd changed from earlier, wearing a robe over a tank top and boy shorts. He tried to put a hand against his belt.

"Sarah, I really don't think that -"

She suddenly stopped, one hand still gripping his belt, the other pressing him against the door, blue eyes full of fire. "What, Chuck? You don't think what?"

He swallowed, looking at her as honestly as he could. "I just don't think that this is the best way to..."

Sarah's mouth parted, forming a silent "O", and she closed her eyes. When she opened them again the passion that had been there moments before had faded, and her expression was stony, dejected.

"Okay, Chuck," she said coldly. "That's fine by me."

Then, without warning, she slapped him hard as across the face. "That's for jeopardising the mission and putting yourself in danger," she said, before driving her fist into his stomach, causing him to double over in pain. "And _that's_ for not trusting me."

Chuck choked out a couple of coughs, winded, and massaged his hands against his stomach, where she'd hit him. "Sarah..." he croaked, trying to reach out for her, but she'd already moved away and was sitting on couch, staring passively at the blank TV, ignoring him.

He coughed several more times, trying to limp over to where Sarah was sitting. As he struggled, she kept sending fleeting glances of what looked like guilt over at him. He pretended not to notice. He tried not to sigh too loudly when he sat down next to her, making sure to keep a distance between them.

"I deserved that," he said.

"Yeah, you did," she nodded, still not looking at him. Even though her eyes were dry, he could see that her face was red and puffy, which made him swallow nervously – he still wasn't sure what to say.

"I was an idiot," he said loudly, nearly shouting it, causing Sarah to jump slightly. He lowered his tone. "And I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Sitting in that car, all I could think was that you were in that warehouse, alone, facing god knows what and I was helpless..."

He took a moment to pause. Though she was still looking away, he could tell Sarah was listening attentively.

"I just felt so useless," he continued, "knowing I couldn't help you without the Intersect. And then I heard those shots, and Jill came running out, and I thought that you had been..." he trailed off, not wanting to finish that thought. "I know I should have waited with Casey's men by the car, but I couldn't. I was _so_ scared, Sarah...Then Jill said that you had tried to kill her, and I didn't believe her – I couldn't. And then you appeared, chasing her, yelling at me to get out of the way and I just...I panicked. She knows how to manipulate me. I knew I'd made a mistake the moment I saw you, but by then it was too late and...I'm sorry, Sarah."

Sarah turned her head towards him just a fraction, her expression softening slightly.

"I say a lot of stupid things sometimes, you know, when I'm stressed. I know it's not an excuse, but I just want to you to know, what I said, I don't know what I was thinking and...it doesn't mean anything. I trust you, Sarah, more than anything, I really do, and I love you. I know that I've hurt you and..." he paused again, moving his head in a effort to catch her gaze, but was unsuccessful. Breathing a deep sigh, he spoke softly. "Knowing that hurts me _so_ much more than what you just did to me."

She finally turned to face him, still silent, but Chuck saw the corners of her mouth turn gradually upwards. It wasn't a brilliant smile, by any means, but it was marked improvement from when he had started. The sadness in his eyes, he noted, was still there, though.

"I know we've talked about being honest with each other," he said slowly. "And I don't expect you to forgive me now. All I can do is tell you how much I love you."

He could see the faintest trace of moisture form in her eye, which she quickly brushed away. "Chuck..." she whispered.

He nodded, trying to give her a reassuring smile. "I know."

She regarded him for a couple of seconds, before reaching forward and pulling up his shirt, exposing his stomach and the bruise that was already starting to form. Slowly, she leaned over and gently placed a kiss over where she'd hit him, before pulling shirt back down and standing up.

"Good night, Chuck," she said, starting to move towards the bedroom.

"Good night, Sarah," he returned, remaining on the couch as he slowly watched her leave.

He sat there for a moment, slowly contemplating the day's events, and just how hurt Sarah's expression had been. At least she tried to seem understanding. Still – Ellie had been right for him to do this now. He kicked out his _Chucks_, and put his feet up on the couch, letting his head fall back against the cushions.

"Dammit," he muttered to himself.

# # #

It was several hours later when he awoke. He'd switched the lights back off and drawn a blanket over himself on the couch. He paused, trying to figure out what had woken him, when he realised there was noise coming from behind. Something was moving towards him in the dark. Bare feet. Quiet.

A second later, Sarah's bare legs stepped into view. He looked up to see that she'd lost the robe, and was standing there in just her tank top and boy shorts. Despite the darkness, he could see that she'd been crying again.

"Hold me," she whispered.

Chuck nodded, wordlessly, taken aback by how vulnerable she looked, before pulling back the blanket. Sarah slowly lay down on top of him shifting her weight to avoid where she'd hit him earlier. She settled her head into the nook of his neck, and he could hear her ragged breathing by his ear. Her legs wrapped around his, and he could feel the pleasant weight of her breasts flattening into his chest. He pulled the blanket back over them, slipping his arms underneath it before wrapping them tightly around her.

"I'm sorry I hit you," she said, still whispering.

"Don't be."

He felt her breath deeply. "Chuck?"

"Yeah?"

She hesitated slightly, her face still buried in his neck. "Before...Last time, you left me."

Chuck felt his stomach turn. "I know."

She looked up at him, eyes wide, the sadness in them earlier replaced by fear. "Please...don't do it again. Don't leave me again."

"Sarah, I..." he stumbled, unsure of how to respond, before he quickly tightened his grip around her. "I'll never leave you, Sarah. Ever. Before...I thought that we could never...I love you, Sarah. Okay? There's only ever been you. I'll never let you go."

She continued to stare at him, before she finally smiled and her eyes brightened, and all the pain and despair that had been there before cleared away, right before him. He couldn't help but return her smile.

"Chuck?" she said, her voice muffling as she settled back into his neck.

"Yeah?"

"I love you, too."

# # #

**A/N: **_One final chapter coming up after this. _


	6. Kill Jill, Part VI

**A/N:** _Hello! Remember me (formerly __**Jack-1977)**__? I know it's been months since I've published anything, but you know. I've recently changed continents and all. This chapter is a (late) Christmas present for __**Crumby**__, who recently has come to be a truly great friend to me, so this is for her. Merry Christmas, Crumbz!_

_Thanks to __**NMH **__for beta'ing this chapter despite her sickness – I really appreciate that! She's amazing also._

_I know I said this would be the last chapter. I lied. There's one more coming after this. A __**World **__update is in sight also._

**Kill Jill VI**

When she felt herself wake, Sarah didn't need to open her eyes to know that it was still dark outside.

She could feel it, and she could hear it; the quiet tranquillity that only ever engulfed the apartment in the extreme early hours of the morning reminded her that she was most likely the only one awake. In the past, when time allowed, she used to find herself relishing in the early morning silence, before the chaos of the day to come erupted. But that was before the Intersect mission started – before Chuck. Now, the chaos of the day meant the rest of _their_ lives.

Despite the darkness, though, it still felt like it was an age beyond her; the cocoon of warmth surrounding her keeping it at bay. At this time, her source of her warmth, naturally, was still asleep. Chuck's slow regulated breathing told her of that. Her head was currently buried into his neck; his arms, even in sleep, wrapped tightly around her back, holding her in place. Here, she could never be lonely.

Scrunching her eyes tighter together and groaning in reluctance, she nestled further in; trying to shake off the background of dull throbbing in her head, hoping it wasn't the onset of a full blown hangover. She really couldn't deal with one this morning – of _all _mornings.

Morning headaches, too, were also a relatively recent familiarity to Sarah; they were always there to remind her why she should never drink more than a few glasses of wine. She'd had to re-learn that lesson after Prague, when she had seriously tested her limits. When Chuck had been gone, both then and now, alcohol had just been one more thing to fall back on...

She suddenly found herself squeezing Chuck's hand harder, which had been joined with hers for most of the night, resting idly on his hip, and her breathing tightened. Initially, there was no response, before

he started to squeeze back. His thumb casually started to brush against hers, lazily at first, before gradually becoming more co-ordinated and settling into tracing wide circles against the back of her palm. His other hand, meanwhile, had slipped under the hem of her top and was slowly starting to move up against her bare back, caressing as it went. She groaned at the soft touch.

"Hey," said a soft, familiar voice from above her.

Chuck.

She found her lips starting to curl upward against his neck; he was awake.

But the sound of his voice was bitter-sweet; the memories of his words outside the warehouse were still raw – not that she'd rather be anywhere else. She knew the implications of them had been meaningless. Really, she did – and that wasn't just the lovesick girl within her desperately trying make excuses, battling for dominance with whatever was left of the cynical, embittered agent she used to be. Chuck was still Chuck. Her Chuck. Her Chuck who panicked; her Chuck who still used a tranq gun; her Chuck who was too trusting; her Chuck who gave everyone a second chance. But that hadn't made hearing his words any easier.

"Hey," she said back, somewhat meekly, keeping her face hidden in his neck, her eyes still closed.

He kept the same soft, sleepy voice. "How are you?" he asked.

"Head hurts," she mumbled.

"Badly?"

"S'Okay." It almost was. "I've had worse," she added, sensing a pause coming.

Chuck made the smallest of shifting movements against the bed. "Do you want some pills?"

"No," she said instinctively, feeling the sudden onset of panic. "Please stay."

He quickly stilled. "Don't worry," he soothed, and his fingers resumed gently massaging the back of her neck. "I'm not going anywhere."

She sighed contently, relaxing back into the warmth of the bed, when something suddenly hit her.

"Chuck?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"How did we get here?"

"Huh?"

"The bed, I mean." She shuffled slightly, remembering last night's painful conversations. "We were on the sofa."

"Oh," he said vaguely, before his voice turned awkward. "It was cold...Once you were asleep, I carried you – us into the bedroom."

She paused for a long moment, before finally saying, "Thank you."

"Hey," he whispered, sounding surprised. "I'm your fia – boyfriend. You don't have to thank me."

She heard Chuck swallow uneasily, but her smile only widened at his slip. His _plan_ hadn't been negated by the events of yesterday; it was still on his mind. His plan. _For them._

Unable to contain herself, she slowly started to press her tongue out, letting it glide past her lips, until it met resistance at Chuck's neck. Still maintaining her smile, she bit down gently at his neck and sucked, letting her tongue roll back and forth against his skin.

"Hey!" Chuck said again, more playfully this time. "That's so not fair!"

Then, the next thing she knew, in a seemingly effortless move, he had flipped her over onto her back, leaving him hovering above her, his arm still wrapped around her back, trapping her. The pain in her head seemed to evaporate as she lay there staring up at him, his chest slowly rising up and down, eyes full of loving intensity. And regret. Silently, he started to lower his head, slowly, until their noses were brushing lazily. She gently nuzzled against him affectionately.

Despite the familiarity of the gesture, something about this _felt_ different. It lacked the playful innocence that it normally had. It was to reassure, to apologise. Chuck didn't need to say the words, not any more. This was enough. It said it all.

Sarah suddenly flushed red, and she felt her lips part. Chuck didn't miss his cue, for he gently tilted his head back until his mouth was on hers. She let herself relax into the kiss as he pressed her into the pillow. However, sensing his hesitance, she reached up to him, and cupped his cheeks, pulling him closer to her. She felt his unshaven chin brush deliciously against hers as she forced her tongue past his lips, desperate to deepen their contact.

Then, abruptly, Chuck pulled back from her, leaving her panting against the pillow, trying to collect her breath – futile really, as his mouth quickly descended on her neck, trailing kisses all the way down. When he reached her collar bone, he quickly hovered down past her tank top, and settled his lips against her exposed navel, causing her to jump, and she let her eyes fall shut.

His hands, meanwhile, had slowly started to slide their way up her torso, pushing her top up with them, for a moment, to lightly brush against the sensitive undersides of her breasts. She could barely contain a groan as she felt his fingers start to tease her nipples, rolling them back and forth between his thumb and forefinger. She nearly cried when she felt his right hand move back down, and she quickly replaced it with her own, but it wasn't the same.

Chuck gently lifted her up as he begun to pull down her boy-shorts, and with her free hand she started to push his head further south. She_ needed _this.

"You're so beautiful," she heard him say.

She didn't hear much more after that.

# # #

Chuck had no idea what the time was. He didn't care either. Not really, anyway. Somewhere, he probably had something to do, whether it was a mundane shift at the BuyMore, a perilously random mission saving the world, or playing mind-numbing video games with Morgan – that is, if Sarah hadn't ostracised him to his mother's a couple of days prior. Nevertheless, he probably had something to do. There was always something to do.

He didn't care.

Not at all.

He could worry about the rest of the world later.

He had more important things to do.

Sarah was lying on her side, gently tucked in to him, facing away. She had fallen back asleep, and he was idly twirling a stray lock of golden hair around his finger. With every one of her quiet, controlled breaths, he felt a light tickling against the back of the wrist. Neither of them had gotten much sleep last night – or this morning – and right now, he wanted to see that she slept. She needed rest, and making sure that she got was the least he could do...

What she had said last night about Jill – how he had _left_ her – had really hit home. He knew Sarah had never been comfortable with his ill-considered decision to get back together with Jill, however brief that period had actually turned out to be. But he never thought that Sarah had seen it as him _leaving_ her. They hadn't even been together! Regardless, if he had known at the time that Sarah felt that way, he would never have gotten back together with Jill. Even if they couldn't have been together, if getting back together with Jill had meant hurting Sarah – in any way – there would have been no question of it.

That had just made him feel worse – he already felt like shit.

Hurting her like he had scared him. It downright terrified him. The split-second intensity and danger and death that came with their job were nothing compared this. He knew that Sarah had been easy in forgiving him, letting him off. But she hadn't, not really. That would take longer than a night. Now they were just dealing with things like adults. They'd wasted too much time already being angry at each other and not communicating.

They were going to get through this.

_He_ was going to get them through this.

And as if to solidify that commitment, Sarah, still asleep, pushed herself further back against him.

As she brushed against his lower abdomen, Chuck found himself having to stifle off a moan.

_God…_

A sudden loud banging at the window sent a burst of panic fleeting through him, causing him to rapidly pull the blanket over the two of them.

What the hell?

"Walker!" A voice barked from outside. "Walker? You in there, Walker?"

_Casey._

But before he could say anything, Sarah started to stir from next to him. "Mmm, Chuck…"

Casey banged again at the window – thankfully, the blind was drawn over it. "_Walker? _I've been trying to reach you."

Sarah groaned again. "Urgh," she mumbled. "What the fuck is that?"

Chuck tightened his arm around her, and placed a quick kiss on her neck. "That, dear, is our wonderful neighbour."

He felt her sigh against him.

"What do you want, Casey?" she said loudly, pressing her head up to turn in the direction of the window, which caused her tussled hair to cascade down on his face as she did so. Chuck nearly lost himself in the smell. "We're busy!"

Casey grunted, sounding surprised. "_We?_ Bartowski's in there with you? I thought he'd be on the couch – or at sister's."

"No, I'm here, Casey," he gritted through his teeth – and Sarah's hair.

"Heh," Casey grunted again, this time amused. "Guess Walker needed her fix, huh?"

Chuck could feel Sarah tensing next to him, and he maintained his grip.

"Casey," she said icily, "either tell us what's up, or _fuck_ off."

"It's Roberts," Casey said seriously, all amusement gone. "We've found her. She's staying at some motel near Anaheim."

Chuck coughed awkwardly.

_Shit._

"I've got a team watching it – she's been there all night." Casey paused before continuing. "We're not taking any chances this time. You wanna come along?"

When Sarah stilled, he leaned forward to kiss the base of her neck.

"Erm, could you give us a sec, Casey?" Chuck asked rather tentatively.

"I'll be in the car."

Chuck waited a couple of seconds for Casey to walk away, before turning his attention to Sarah. Slowly, she sank her head back down to the pillow and turned over to face him. Her eyes were wide, and all traces of sleep were gone. He pressed his head up against hers and kissed her.

It was slow and long and he could tell that she was nervous as hell – not angry or stiff by any means.

When he finally pulled back, she looked calmer.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey."

"You okay?" he asked, brushing a lock of hair from her face as he did so.

"Yeah," she said, smiling timidly. "I think so."

"What are you gonna do?" he asked, sobering.

Sarah frowned. "Me?"

"Yeah," he affirmed. "Casey wants you to go with him."

"What about you?"

"I think I proved yesterday…" Chuck paused to swallow nervously. "I'm nowhere near objective when it comes to this…and Jill…she still knows how to play me."

Sarah's expression softened. "You won't be worried?"

"Hey," he said, placing a hand under her chin and gently stroking it with his. "You'd have an entire team _and_ Casey with you. I think I can set aside my worries just a bit."

Sarah bit her lip. "That's not what I meant."

"I know," he said sighing. "Sarah, I trust you more than anyone, okay? You're the person who's always been there for me – despite all my stupidity – no matter what. Yesterday, I was an idiot…but Jill…She needs to be apprehended. I know that. And the mission would probably have a much better chance of success if you were on it."

She pressed her face closer to him again so that their noses were nearly touching. "You know I love you, right?"

"Yeah," he said, barely managing to contain a grin.

"Good," she whispered, while slowly kissing him, and he felt her lips curl upwards into his. When she broke it off, she drew herself into him, one final time, and he hugged her tightly.

"Because you know I'm gonna break that bitch's nose, right?"

# # #

"You sure she's in there?"

Casey grunted from beside her in the driver's seat. "My men have been watching her since three A.M. She's in there."

Sarah pushed herself further back into the passenger seat, staring at the motel in front of her. Under the daylight, the place had a dank feel to it; it smelled badly of alcohol and stale tobacco, and was in bad need of a paintjob. It probably looked worse at night.

A suitable nesting place for a creature like Jill Roberts.

"And she's alone?"

"As far as we can tell."

Sarah nodded to herself.

"Was a bitch to track her down, too," Casey continued, barely hiding his annoyance. "I haven't slept yet. No thanks to the moron."

"He's not a moron," she said idly, still staring at the motel. "I wish you wouldn't call him that."

Sarah didn't turn, but she could practically hear Casey's jaw clenching.

"Sorry," he muttered awkwardly. "Look, Sarah…You know he made a mistake, right? That's all it was. That kid would do anything for you."

"I know." She suddenly found it very difficult to keep her face neutral – she could almost feel a smile in the making. He rarely ever called her Sarah. "Thanks, Casey," she said.

Casey grunted again. "Are we done talking about our lady feelings now?"

This time Sarah did smile. "What's the plan?"

"I lead the frontal assault, you go in the back. We meet in the middle and neutralise the harpy. That or we could always smoke her out…I hear witches don't like fire."

Sarah slowly nodded. It was a good plan. They had the motel surrounded from all sides; Jill was alone, and wouldn't be able to escape. Still…

She turned to face Casey, who'd been staring at her with intent. "I wanna go in first."

His eyes quickly widened, before his face contorted into a scowl. "What? Are you serious?"

"Do I ever joke with you?" she asked, levelling him with a stare and raising an eyebrow.

He was silent for a moment, considering it. "You gonna kill her?" he said finally.

Sarah looked back the motel; her _Smith & Wesson _was tucked comfortably into the back of her pants and her throwing knives pressed heavily against her thigh. She'd thought long and hard about what she wanted to do to Jill Roberts. It was instinctual, primal even. But then there was Chuck…

"I don't know."

And she didn't.

She heard Casey swallow awkwardly – or was that nervousness she detected? – before he cleared his throat. "All units, Walker's going in first." He quickly shot a glance at her – _you better be sure about this _– before adding, "Alone. Be on alert."

Sarah waited until the various acknowledgements came back before giving him a quick nod, and getting out of the vehicle.

The walk across the sandy parking lot towards the motel room Casey had indicated seemed to take an eternity. She really should've worn better shoes…She hadn't showered either; her hair was only haphazardly tied back in a messy ponytail. She probably stunk. Not that any of that mattered. But she thought about it anyway…

She was half-tempted to break the flimsy motel door down – she easily could have. But Jill could be armed, and such a sudden entrance would probably startle her. Sarah really didn't feel like getting shot today, especially by Jill _freaking_ Roberts.

So she knocked.

"Housekeeping," she said in Spanish.

It was thirteen and a half seconds before the door opened. She knew exactly; she counted. She didn't really have anything else to do.

Jill was a mess. Like, really. She looked like she'd been asleep in the same clothes as yesterday, judging by how rumpled they were. Her brown hair was a mess and there were heavy bags under her eyes – which shot wide open as soon as they registered who was standing outside.

Clearly not housekeeping.

She barely had time to react before Sarah said, "Hi, Jill," and knocked her out clean with her right fist.

There was a loud thud as she hit the floor.

Sarah smiled to herself, while shaking the pain out of her hand. At least she hadn't been wearing those stupid glasses. That probably would have been too far.

Hitting someone with glasses on was just mean.

Turning behind her, she gestured for Casey to stay put before stepping in the room.

This wasn't over yet.

# # #

Sarah was sitting cross-legged on the bed when Jill awoke.

She was comfortable in this position, even if it was on the bed Jill had been _sleeping _in. She'd been idly rolling her throwing knife between his fingers while waiting for Jill to awaken. The _Smith & Wesson _lay on the bed in front of her. She had placed it there deliberately, so Jill would see. It was ready. Waiting.

After shutting the motel room door behind her, she'd secured Jill to a chair in the centre of the room, using the bed sheets to restrain her wrists and ankles – she hadn't been light with them either. There was nothing much else in the motel room: some dirty clothes loosely strewn about, a worn travel bag which contained some old photos of family, and a few maps of Southern California. No master plans, no grand conspiracy; this was Jill's life now. All wrapped up in a shitty motel room. After that it had pretty much been a waiting game.

Jill had been stirring for a while now, her head lazily lolling back and forth. A bruise had started to form on her cheek, where Sarah had hit her. When she finally did wake, however, she rapidly sat up – as much as being tied to a chair would allow – and her eyes started darting all around the room, no doubt looking for ways to escape, before they settled on Sarah. The horror that befell her was oddly satisfying.

"S-Sarah!" she stuttered, out of shock over anything else.

"Hi, Jill," Sarah repeated, keeping her tone neutral.

Jill's eyes glanced between the knife in her hands to the gun on the bed, and she swallowed heavily. Beads of sweat started to gather on her forehead.

"Are you going to kill me?"

Sarah regarded her for a moment, seriously, and ignored the question. "What are you doing in Los Angeles?"

"S-Sarah! P-Please…" Jill mumbled, starting to squirm, but Sarah had tied the restraints far too well.

It was surprisingly hard to keep her expression collected in front Jill, who was starting to sob. But she did. Somehow. "What are you doing in Los Angeles?" she repeated.

Sarah could see tears pooling in the other woman's eyes. _She knew what was coming._

"Please…please don't kill me," Jill choked, unable to meet her gaze.

"Answer the question!" she said, more harshly than she intended.

_That_ caused her to still. Suddenly so. Jill knew when to listen - no doubt she'd reached the training her Fulcrum masters had probably drilled into her.

Still looking at the floor, Jill opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She tried again, and Sarah heard only the most meagre of mumbles.

"Jill, I'm afraid you're going to have to speak up," she said with a sigh. "Else that beauty mark on your cheek is going to be the least of your worries."

Sarah watched the other woman process her words. Jill gave her lips a quick lick and slowly nodded her head up and down, seemingly more to herself than Sarah.

"I wanted…help."

"What?"

"I wanted help," she repeated, rather pathetically.

Jill looked up at her, and through all the tears Sarah could see something in her eyes, a self-loathing of kinds – probably at what she had just admitted to. Sarah felt a sudden pang of empathy burst through her; she could relate to that.

"You don't know what it's like," she continued, sobbing only slightly now, "to have _no-one_. Absolutely no-one. Running constantly. Going to sleep every night wondering if it's going to be your last…"

Only Sarah did know.

All too well.

"Fulcrum's gone. The government wants me dead. My parents…they up and moved to Helsinki because they thought that's where I was… I came here because I didn't know where else to go. There's nothing for me anywhere, no-one. I'm tired to running, Sarah. I know it was risky but I figured maybe Chuck could help me…like before. I just want it to end."

Sarah felt a sudden burst of anger well up within her.

_Chuck._

How dare she mention him! After everything she'd done to him – all the lies, the cheating, the manipulation, the betrayal – and she wanted his _help_! Not forgetting the fact that she'd tried to turn him against _her_ less than a day ago. She managed to keep her calm.

"Is that why you were in Burbank? To see Chuck?"

"Yes."

"And you thought the best way to get his help," she said, leaning forward and holding the knife steady between her fingers, "was to try and turn him against me? Do you really think he's that stupid?"

Jill looked at her accusingly. "You're the one who tried to kill me!"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "For the record, Jill, back in the warehouse, I was _actually_ trying to help you."

Sarah watched as Jill's jaw dropped. She wanted to smile; _that_ of all things seemed to unnerve Jill most, that she'd had her chance at help, and now she'd blown it. The universe could be wonderfully ironic that way. It was almost poetic.

"Despite everything you've done to him," Sarah continued, pushing herself up off the bed, making sure to pick up the gun with her free hand, "Chuck asked me to go in there to help you; he didn't want you get _hurt_. He hoped you'd come easy."

She started to encircle the bound woman, and Sarah heard another sob escape her.

"But Chuck's not here now, Jill."

"Are you going…to kill me?" she sniffed.

Sarah came round to face her again, pausing deliberately in front of her, considering it. Jill eyes made their way to the knife in her right hand and the _Smith&Wesson_ in her right."

"Like you tried to kill me yesterday? When you shot at me? Or how about that time in the Buy More, Jill?"

Jill made a strange, strangled sound, which caused Sarah to cock her head to the side – it sounded almost like a laugh. "We're not that different, you know," she muttered. "You don't deserve him either."

Without thinking, she spun on her heel and fired two shots point blank, not an inch from Jill's head on either side. The sound from the discharge ricocheted painfully throughout her ears. "Don't _fucking_ presume to know anything about us."

_Shit._

She hadn't meant to do that.

_Fuck._

Sarah let herself take a breath, and turned to look at Jill, who clearly hadn't. She looked thoroughly terrified.

A loud banging at the door let her know Casey had heard the shots – who hadn't?

"It's fine, Casey," she yelled. "There was an accidental weapons discharge. We're all fine here!"

"Help, please!" Jill piped up, having apparently found her voice.

_Slimy bitch._

Sarah quickly silenced her by jabbing the gun in her direction. "Shut up!"

There was a grunting noise from outside. It didn't sound convinced.

"Seriously, everything's fine in here!" She paused to eye the two bullet holes in the wall opposite, which were still smoking, and just knew that Casey would see to it that the repair costs came out of her stipend. She shook it off. "How are you?" she added – for good measure, of course.

Another grunting sound told her he was leaving. She turned her attention back to Jill.

Despite everything she'd said, despite all she'd done, Sarah's moment of anger had passed. She wasn't going to let Jill Roberts control her.

"What do you want, Jill?"

# # #


	7. Kill Jill, Part VII

**A/N: **_Thanks to the awesome __**NMH**__ for editing this chapter and being fantastically supportive throughout as I struggled to write it. __**Crumby**__, too, I should thank you for something. You're brilliant._

_This is the final chapter of this story. I hope you guys enjoy. _

Kill Jill, Part VII

Sarah knew she shouldn't be doing be this.

It went against every one of her instincts to do so.

Even after the choice she made, Jill's request had still seemed entirely unreasonable, completely out of the question. It felt like she was going against the very fabric of her being. Casey wouldn't have done it – he'd told her as much, and yet here she was: doing it.

This had been Jill's _final_ request, and as entirely unreasonable as it might have been, it wasn't really surprising. Jill was kind of predictable like that. She really didn't deserve to have it seen through.

Sarah sighed, turning to her partner next to her. This wasn't going to be easy.

"I better go talk to him."

Casey didn't respond with his usual sarcasm; he just nodded. "I'll wait here."

She paused momentarily before stepping out of the car. She was scared of Chuck's reaction more than she cared to admit, of what he'd do, of what he'd say.

It was too late now.

# # #

Chuck was agitated.

Waiting around while Sarah and Casey were on mission sucked.

It gave him too much time to think, and thinking, more often than not, led to worrying, and worrying about Sarah sucked even more than being left behind. Even if he had told himself – and her – that she was with Casey and would be fine, actually convincing himself of that was another matter entirely. Sarah had instructed him to remember to eat before she left to keep up his _strength_ but his appetite just wasn't there.

Normally when this happened, he'd distract himself by playing video games, sometimes with Morgan, but mostly on his own. It was cathartic. It helped him take his mind off things, like Sarah and Jill together in the same place…

But with the two stoic CIA agents that were standing at opposite ends of living room – supposedly to "guard" him, as Sarah had said – playing video games in front of them would have felt kind of awkward. He'd offered them coffee, just in case they actually said did say yes – Chuck was still polite after all – but they had declined, any traces of personality remaining hidden behind dark sunglasses. Sitting on the couch was enough, he told himself, while trying to hold his foot still.

He didn't regret choosing to stay here; his going along on the mission really wouldn't have helped, particularly after last time. From a tactical standpoint, he had very little to offer. The Intersect was still buried in his subconscious, and he'd already proven that he couldn't be objective. He _wanted _people to have second chances. He couldn't really deny that. As angry as what Jill had tried to do to Sarah made him, he didn't want her to suffer. But maybe that was too much to ask, at least when the CIA was paying the bills…

"Are you sure I can't get you guys-" he started to ask his guards, but stopped midway, seeing the front door open.

The agents briefly tensed, relaxing once they recognised Sarah walking in.

Chuck visibly sighed. She was back.

"Smith, Johnson," Sarah greeted, turning straight to the agents and offering them a curt nod. "Report back to Castle."

She didn't look over at him as the agents nodded their affirmatives and moved towards the door, instead blankly staring into space.

Once they had left, Chuck quickly moved over to her, wrapping his arms around her before she could refuse. She felt tense.

"Hey," he said. "You okay?"

She didn't reply, instead pushing her head into his chest and gripping him tightly back.

"That bad, huh?"

Chuck felt her hands scrunch up the back of his shirt, and he held her there for a moment, listening to her uneven breathing. His mind couldn't help but wonder what had happened with the mission – what had happened with Jill – but he could already tell it wasn't good.

"You wanna sit down?" he asked, tilting his head so that his chin brushed her hair. "You know, rest for a bit?"

She shook her head against him.

"Sure?"

Sarah pushed herself back slightly so she could look up at him. "We need to go outside."

Chuck cocked his head. "Oh?"

"There's something you need to see," she said quietly.

He considered it for a moment, trying to read what she was thinking. He couldn't see much past the blue. Tiredness was there, and nervousness. Maybe.

"Chuck?"

"Right," he said quickly. "Let's go."

Sarah smiled briefly, pulling back from his embrace and leading him back towards the door. She kept a grip on his hand as they moved into the courtyard, which was empty.

"Are Ellie and Awesome around?" Sarah asked, looking towards the apartment across the courtyard.

"No, they're both at the hospital. Why?"

She nodded again without looking at him, before pressing a finger to her ear. "Okay, Casey, we're good."

"Um, Sarah?" he asked, trying to catch her gaze. "What's going on?"

Finally, apparently satisfied that the courtyard was empty, she turned back to him. "I made a deal, Chuck," she said simply, before pulling herself close, turning so that her back pressed into his chest. She placed his arm firmly against her stomach, before overlapping it with her own.

Chuck gulped. She'd made a _deal?_ What kind of a deal? And with whom?

He didn't need to wait long to find out, for a moment later Casey entered the courtyard with _Jill_ in tow.

Chuck's stomach literally jumped, and he had to blink several times before he believed what his eyes were telling him. If he hadn't already been leaning to Sarah, he probably would've stumbled…or something. He wasn't alone in his adverse reaction; Sarah's hand was gripping his arm noticeably tighter and a low growling sound was now emanating from her throat as Casey and Jill started to move.

Casey, behind his stony expression, was brooding, Chuck could tell. Whatever was going on, he clearly didn't like it. Nevertheless, that didn't stop his gaze from giving a quick sweep of the courtyard before making his over towards them, professionalism not slipping.

Looking over from Casey, Chuck's eyes moved to his prisoner – at least that's what he assumed she was. Jill had a jacket draped across her hands – covering, what he presumed, were handcuffs beneath – a small effort at preserving whatever of her dignity remained.

Casey led them over to a stop, such as that each couple were standing on either side of the fountain. Jill, looked even worse than yesterday. To add to the sleep deprived bags that were already under her eyes, it looked like she'd been crying, too. Chuck swallowed again, already guessing at how the bruise on her cheek had gotten there, as it definitely hadn't been there yesterday. Maybe she'd tripped, he thought less than hopefully.

Through the near palpable silence, Sarah pushed herself further back into him, subtly so that no one but him would realise, and boy, was he realising. Was she really trying to… Chuck let out a deep breath, thankful that Sarah was covering his front. She was doing this, he was certain, at the same time as glaring at Jill.

It was her who first broke the silence.

"Well? Here he is," she said harshly. "You got your meeting. Now speak."

_Meeting?_

Jill looked up, from where she'd been staring at the ground in passive defeat, her eyes flicking back and forth between him and Sarah, nervously.

"Um, actually I was hoping to be able to speak to Chuck." Jill licked her lips. "Alone."

"Oh, you—"

"That's okay, Jill," Chuck quickly cut in while tightening his grip around Sarah before she could move. "Anything you want to say to me, you can in front of Sarah."

Sarah released a breath, and he felt her relax a little more against him.

From beside Jill, Casey rolled his eyes – the sheer number of things here that probably disgusted him were too many to narrow down - before releasing Jill's arm and moving a few feet away, out of earshot. Whatever Jill wanted to say, Casey _really_ didn't want to hear it, and neither did Sarah, probably. Chuck wasn't entirely sure he did either. Regardless, Sarah had brought her for a reason…

He started to untangle himself from Sarah – which she reluctantly conceded to – and stepped out so he was facing Jill, still keeping his hand joined with Sarah's.

"What do you want to say, Jill?"

"I…" Jill paused for a moment, looking unsure of what to say, unnerved by his blunt question. When she did speak, her voice was toneless. "Sarah's agreed to help me."

"What?" Chuck jumped up and looked to his girlfriend. "You've agreed to help her? How? Why? After everything she's done…"

"Chuck," Sarah said calmly, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Just listen."

He turned back to face Jill, who hadn't reacted to his outburst.

"I know that everyone here would probably rather see me dead than alive," she continued. "I know what I've done. It's not a secret, not really."

"Jill—"

"Sarah…and Casey, they've agreed to let me go."

"Go where?" he asked, keeping his voice controlled.

"Helsinki, actually," she said, the faintest trace of hope starting to fill her face. "My parents moved there after…I'm going to go and join them."

Chuck turned to his girlfriend. "You're just going to let her go? Why?"

Sarah paused for a long moment.

"She carries no intelligence of any value, Chuck," she said eventually, looking up at him awkwardly. "Beckman really has no interest in her. As part of the deal we made, she's not allowed to return to the U.S. or contact you again."

Chuck frowned, looking back to Jill. "This is true?"

"I get to see my parents, Chuck," she said, nodding a quiet affirmative. "I really don't want to run anymore."

A sudden rush of sympathy ran through him. Was this all Jill wanted? To risk coming to Los Angeles, simply to try and see her parents? To just go home? Even if that _was_ the case, something still didn't make sense.

"Then… why are you here, Jill? Sarah said you wanted to see me."

"I wanted…" Jill shut her eyes very quickly, taking pause, before continuing. "I wanted to see you to say I'm sorry – because I really am, Chuck."

Chuck blinked and felt himself inch closer towards Sarah, still looking at Jill.

"You think you can just apologise?" he said abruptly, the harsh voice he heard come out of his mouth sounding foreign even to him, and he felt Sarah jump from next to him. "After everything you've done to us, you think you can just_ apologise_? Do you actually expect me to forgive you?"

Chuck blinked again, looking around as he took a breath, the bottled-up emotion of everything that had happened causing him to shake. Jill hadn't moved. She just continued to stare at him, unflinching, which just made him feel even angrier. From across the courtyard, he could see Casey looking at him awkwardly, his jaw slightly dropped, unable to conceal his surprise.

Just as he was about to open his mouth again, Sarah started to press herself closer to his side, one hand slowly rubbing the small of his back. The feel of her had an instant calming effect and he stopped himself.

"I don't expect you to forgive me, Chuck," Jill said slowly. "I know I don't deserve it. But I want you to understand that I'm sorry, because I really am."

Chuck exhaled very deeply. "It's not just me you need to apologise to."

"You're right," she said, swallowing awkwardly and turning to Sarah. "I'm sorry, Sarah, to you, too. And… thank you."

Sarah gave a curt nod. "I didn't do it for you," she said quietly, her body stilling and giving Jill an intense look, before looking to Casey. "It's time."

Having been waiting for his cue, Casey stepped back forward so he was in a position to shadow Jill, who briefly looked up at him before turning back to them, nibbling on her lip. "This is it, then?"

"We've arranged a car to take you over the border," Casey answered for them, his voice mechanical, highlighting his clear disagreement with this plan. "From there, you'll be provided with new papers and transport to Europe."

"Oh," Jill said quietly, looking back down at the jacket that covered her manacled wrists.

Sarah took a step forward away from Chuck's side, putting herself as a barrier between him and his ex-girlfriend. "Goodbye, Jill," she said bluntly as Casey started to lead her away, back towards the cars.

Chuck stood still as he watched Jill leave. This time, there were no empty feelings of regret or betrayal, or of wondering what could have been. This time, he was sure; it would definitely be the last. It was for good.

"Jill, wait!" he said, stepping up. Both Casey and Jill turned back to him, as did Sarah. "Good luck."

And then, with a small smile, she was gone.

He was vaguely aware of Sarah stepping back to his side and putting an arm around him.

"C'mon," she gently said into his ear. "Let's go."

# # #

"Here you go," Sarah said, placing the cup of coffee on the table in front of him.

Chuck closed his eyes briefly, inhaling the warming aroma, before looking up at his girlfriend and grinning. "Thank you."

She nodded, returning a small smile. Still, however, she looked concerned, which she couldn't mask from him.

He reached to take her hand in his. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Actually, yeah," she laughed, looking down at where their hands were joined. "I'm, uh, good. It just feels strange having all this behind us."

Chuck look at her for a moment. She hadn't yet changed out of her mission gear, which consisted of a form-fitting black jacket and equally dark pants, topped off with impossibly high boots.

"What about you?" she asked suddenly. "How are you feeling?"

"Good," Chuck nodded, before biting his lip, causing Sarah to frown at him.

She ran her thumb over his and lowered her voice. "You can talk to me, you know."

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, grimacing. "It's just…I can't stop thinking about what I said to you yesterday."

Sarah's face immediately lightened. "Is that what you're worried about?" she asked, causing him to quietly nod an acknowledgement.

"Aww, honey…" she said gently, "we don't need to dwell on that. Really, it's okay."

"Sure?"

"Positive. Besides, I've been thinking about other things."

Chuck raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What things?"

"Oh, you know," she drawled, before abruptly pulling him up off the couch so that they were face to face. "Like that _thing_ you did with your tongue this morning…"

"Hee!" Chuck squeaked, flushing red.

Sarah cocked her head to the side, gently pressing a kiss to his lips. "That's not what you're supposed to say," she whispered, and he could only smile stupidly as she did so, starting to feel blood running to other parts of his body as her warmth pressed against him.

He kissed her back, letting his lips linger a second longer than she had, long enough to elicit a small moan from her. "And what I am supposed to say?" he managed to get out, dropping his hands to her side.

"You're supposed to say," she continued, looking up at him from under hooded eyes, "that if you don't get me out of this jacket soon, you're going to tear it off me."

Chuck felt his eyes briefly widen, before remembering what was good for him and dropped his lips to her neck. He peppered kisses against it, letting his tongue sneak past his lips to taste her soft skin. It took all his concentration not to lose himself in her smell as he fumbled around for a zipper, which was cunningly hidden on the side of her jacket.

When the jacket fell loose, he had to blink at what he saw. "You went on a mission like that?" he panted, moving his head back to get a better look.

"Oh, this?" she asked in a sultry voice, giving him a small smile and parting her jacket a little more.

Barely a shade brighter than the marks now on her neck was a red chemise directly under her jacket, which clung to her body perfectly. Chuck didn't care that his mouth was open, he just continued to stare.

"Sarah, you're…"

"You like?" she said, smile widening.

Chuck bobbed his head up and down, finding himself short of words.

Grabbing a handful of his t-shirt, Sarah pulled herself closer to him and kissed his neck at the base of his ear, causing him to shiver. "It's all just for you, Chuck," she whispered as she pushed him back onto the couch, straddling him. "It's all just for you."

Then, Sarah's jacket was completely off and Chuck had his hand wrapped around her back, holding her as he kissed his way down her neck. He paused briefly to gently bite her collar bone before continuing his trip down, settling his head in the valley between her breasts.

Sarah's hands were soon in his hair, entangling it, pulling him in closer and holding him there, leaving him to feel his way up her back and slide the silky straps of the chemise from her shoulders. He continued to tug the straps down, causing the material to pool at her waist and leaving her perfect breasts exposed.

He heard her let out another guttural moan as he licked across her left breast, settling his mouth on her nipple, sucking lightly. Sarah, too, was not inactive. Just as he brought his hand around to massage her other breast, she released his head, only to start sliding her hands up the back on his shirt. The pain of her nails digging in against him only caused him to suckle harder. After a moment, she withdrew her hands.

"You're wearing…" she panted, pushing him back so that he was lying back against the couch, staring up at her topless form, "too many clothes," she finished, before practically ripping his t-shirt out from under him. Her dishevelled hair now fell across her face, but could barely conceal the look of hunger in her eyes as she stared down at his chest. The smile she'd had earlier, with all the control it represented, was now gone from her puckered lips, which were slowly descending towards him.

The sight of her blonde hair spread messily across him, and the feel of her warm tongue against his chest nearly caused him to lose it then and there. They were now actively thrusting and grinding against one another, clothing be damned, both desperately scrambling to undo the other's belts, to try to deepen their contact.

And then their pants were gone, leaving Sarah clad in the remains of her chemise and matching panties and Chuck just in his boxers. Soon, they were gone, too, leaving nothing but the warmth between them.

As Chuck felt Sarah sink down against him, the couch suddenly became the most comfortable place in the world.

And then there was nothing but bliss.

# # #

It was a couple of days later and both of them were still enjoying the extra vacation that Beckman had given them. They had, eventually, even managed to leave the bedroom for some of it.

Chuck had gone over to Morgan's mother's house to let him know that it was now safe to return, leaving Sarah alone in the apartment for the first time in what felt like forever – she knew it had actually only been three days since she'd last been here alone, but it still felt longer.

Casey had told her this morning that Jill had made it over the Mexican border and had since reached Helsinki. She wasn't sure quite how she felt about that. Truth be told, she wasn't particularly dwelling on it. It was the past. Maybe Jill did deserve a second chance. Regardless, it was out of her hands now anyway. It didn't concern her.

She had just finished changing the sheets in their bedroom when she saw it, a little slip of paper poking out of the desk drawer. Curious, she went over and pulled it out. Upon unfolding it, she blinked twice at what she saw: Chuck's proposal plan.

Only he'd changed it. Gone were the race cars and horses and beaches. Well, they technically were still there, though he'd covered them over. He'd covered them over with a photo. A simple photo. Just one.

Of them.

Them from years ago. It was a cover photo of him draping both his arms around her waist in somewhere that looked like Palm Springs. They were grinning stupidly at the camera and both looked impossibly young.

Below, Chuck had written something simple, which caused her to smile wider than her picture-self was.

_Sarah and Chuck._

# # #

**A/N: **_It's been a pleasure._

_JoeltotheD_


End file.
